The Peculiar Life of Luna Lovegood (complete)
by it'sEmmynotEmma
Summary: What if Love Lovegood was the one who was meant to be the love interest for Harry Potter? A retelling of the series from Chamber of Secrets to the end, Deathly Hallows. Towards the end it has darker tones.
1. prologue

**_Prologue _**

** Outside of Ottery St. Catchpole **there lived many strange families that had magic flowing through their veins but the strangest family happened to be The Lovegoods. They lived quite further away than the others; they liked the seclusion and being closer to the trees. There were creatures that lived within the trees and had faded away into just fables that only few wizards and witches knew existed still.

There were originally three Lovegoods, but then tragedy struck and Pandora Lovegood was soon buried—all due to the fact that there was an explosion from her putting two ingredients together in a potion that she had never put together before.

It might also have to do with the fact that the said ingredient had been discovered by Pandora when she was wandering throughout the forest near her house with her daughter, the both of them wanting to find more creatures that they knew were real but no one else in the Wizarding World believed in them—even the ones that believed in their famous odd category.

One could say that Xenophilius Lovegood was too naïve—that if something sounded as though it would be unknown to both of the worlds, both Muggles' and Wizards', that he would make sure to make replicas or buy off parts that were supposedly from the creatures.

Pandora might have been one of the best potion makers that there ever were—at least that's what people who knew or bought her potions claimed she was, but she wasn't as naïve as her husband. She could often be found taking back pieces that she knew weren't really genuine while her husband was rubbing his hands together and apologizing to the tall, beautiful and odd woman.

Then there was their daughter, Luna Lovegood –whom was as weird as they could come. She had been born with milk white hair and bright blue irises that could see little creatures around her parents that they claimed they couldn't see when she was old enough to tell them.

When words could not be enough sometimes Luna could be found sitting on the top floor of her circular stone house—sketching out the creatures with such precision and detail that it took the breath away from both of her parents. It made her and her family more shunned away from the other families that lived near them—mainly due to the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Lovegood embraced the thought of their daughter having a rare sight that only she had been bestowed with.

Luna could often be seen running down the dirt pathway that led up to their tilted large cylinder house with laughter radiating from her. She wore her radish earrings that she had managed to make with the help of her mother, and butterbeer caps in the form of a necklace. The necklace was supposed to repel Nargles (that happened to be one of the first creatures that her dad had automatically accepted—but the Crumple-Horned Snorkack had been the first).

Now, four weeks before her birthday, on her eleventh birthday, which was the thirteenth of February, Luna stood on a ladder in her bedroom with a paint pallet in her right hand—all the while humming a song that she remembered her mother would sing to her when she was tiny.

It was early in the morning; Luna always woke up early in the morning. She especially didn't see the reason to sleep in this morning either.

So she had woken up and taken a bath before putting on a navy blue long sleeve dress and star printed tights, along with a little silver necklace that had a star charm on it. She always wore it near her birthday—it was the last present that her mother had given to her before the accident.

Downstairs she could hear her daddy sleeping, which meant that he was snoring, but other than that it was quiet. She always loved the quiet, but then again that was all that Luna had known her life. She wasn't quite as embraced by others, she knew that the Weasleys across the way that lived in The Burrow were quite social people but they also had a bunch of Nargles that were in their house.

Her mother had taken Luna there every now and then before she died, so Luna knew all of the Weasleys. She quite liked Ginevra—in appearances they were polar opposites. Ginevra had bright red hair, while Luna had dirty blonde hair that became very light in the summer. Ginevra had brown eyes, simple but pretty, while Luna had misty clear blue irises that always seemed as though they were looking at another plane of existence all entirely.

Luna also remembered when Mrs. Weasley had heard of what had happened. She had come over and made food for Luna and her dad, and although it was nice to have a motherly figure in the house she was nothing like her mum. Mrs. Weasley was loud, not that she meant to be—her parents only had to deal with one child, while Mrs. Weasley had seven children.

So when Luna heard the tapping on her bedroom window she paused her painting and turned her head, smiling when she saw the small owl that was hovering outside of her bedroom window with a letter attached to its leg. She climbed down her ladder and hurried over to the window before she opened it—letting in the cold air that blasted her and would eventually reach her daddy if she kept it open too long.

Taking the letter from the Owl, Luna paid it and patted it on its head before whispering goodbye to it. It soared away and with this, Luna shut the bedroom window closed behind her before she sat down on her bed and slowly began to open it, knowing what she would expect.

In her hands was her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. She couldn't wait until she could go and make new friends! She had been alone for too long, she only really had Ginevra as a friend, but even then she knew that her friend did not truly believe in what she saw and it was the only downfall of having this sight.

Still, Luna hoped that when she would enter Hogwarts and would be sorted that she would make friends…

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I apologize to everyone that was in the middle of reading this version of 'The Peculiar Life of Luna Lovegood', I hadn't realized that I was being extremely rude. I deleted this version off of Wattpad and then did it on here. So please forgive me, I've learnt my lesson when it comes to that. Please know though that this is the original draft, so please no complaining. I obviously know there's mistakes and it's fast paced.**

**As Always: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me**

**-Ems**


	2. the train

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_01: _**_the train_

** Before she knew it**, Luna found herself waking up on September 1st, ready to board the Hogwarts Express so that she could make her way towards the school. She had heard countless tales about the school from both her parents—they were both in Ravenclaw and were proud of their House.

She changed into her school robes, knowing that she wanted to go ahead and be prepared to go into the train without having to slip them on at the last minute. Sometimes she was forgetful and would have been rushing and trying to find her robes in her suitcase, but thankfully her daddy had made sure to remind her to change into them when she had come downstairs for breakfast.

"Are you excited to go to Hogwarts, my Luna?" Xenophilius probed towards his daughter as he drank his tea, patiently waiting for her response. To anyone else they would have been sick to the stomach at the smell that waffled from the cup but to Luna she had grown up with the scent and had come to find it as nothing more than the normal scent for a hot cup of tea—it was Gurdyroot tea.

The tea warded off Gulping Plimpies—which were fish. Though they weren't that very good fish, if it meant that they would make you think you saw them in shallow water but you ended up drowning in the end.

She picked up her own cup of tea and took a sip, immediately feeling her tenseness wash away from her. The sun shimmered in from the large window that was up against the curled wall where the kitchen table was against. Around her every piece of furniture was vibrate from the array of colors that she had chosen for her pieces of art—they were bright pink and yellow and green and blue and an assortment of other bright colors that could help repel the more irritating creatures.

"Oh yes, Daddy! I hope to earn friends," Luna responded, adding the last part at the end. To anyone else they would have shifted their feet without comfort at the awkwardness of her blunt comment—even her airy and dreamy voice still made them feel weird.

"Eat some toast; it's over on the counter. I don't want you to go on the train with an empty stomach," Xenophilius informed her, earning a nod from his daughter as she stood up from her chair at the kitchen table and went over to the toast that was sitting on the painted plate.

Coming back to the table, Luna sat down and began to eat the toast as she stared out at the trees and knew in the distance there was the creek that was known for having the horrid Gulping Plimpies, which sadly not that many people thought that they existed and most people who were in their presence never lived to tell the tale.

She sat there, with content dripping from her and enveloping the room. It was one thing that she enjoyed with her daddy, because some people relied too heavily on having an actual conversation with their family members all the time instead of actually sitting down and drinking tea and staring out at the scenery around them.

"Luna, my dear, hurry up. We have to leave soon."

Luna did as her daddy told her to do so; she ate the rest of her toast and wiped away the crumbles that were around her lips before she drank down the rest of her reddish-purple tea. She brushed her teeth and brushed out her hair with her hair brush that she was leaving—she decided to bring her mum's hairbrush instead.

She hummed as she headed down the staircase to the ground floor to find that her daddy was standing near the fireplace and that he had a somewhat excited, yet somber, and nervous expression on his face—it was a true mixture of three that to others would have them worried but instead Luna made her way towards her daddy and sat her navy blue suitcase down—it had constellations painted by her hand all throughout it—her mum and her were huge astronomy lovers.

"Mummy would be pleased, Daddy. She's proud of you."

Xenophilius peered at her in shock before he shook his head fondly and took her hand, "thank you, my dear. Your mother is proud of you too, I am certain of it."

Luna watched as her daddy reached his hand out to her, she had done side-along apparition since she was old enough to walk and had gotten used to the feeling long before others did. So she merely picked up her suitcase and wrapped her arm around her daddy's.

As though she was in a high speed tunnel that was traveling faster than light and sound—Luna did not look frightened or sickened at all. Both she and her daddy were standing properly and neither of them looked uncomfortable.

When she felt them land on their feet, Luna turned her head, her cloudy blue irises widening even more (well not that it was very possible, her eyes were quite large to begin with) at the sight of the glistening red train that was at the station. Her hands reached up and she clasped them together—excitement overtaking everything else in that very moment.

"Isn't it wonderful?"

Both Lovegoods turned their heads, finding that a taller girl stood next to her—in a simple green jumper and dark pants and tennis shoes. Her long brown hair had been pulled back into a high ponytail and although she was older than Luna, it looked like she must have been a second year.

"Hi, I'm Mandy Brocklehurst." Mandy shot them a gentle smile and Luna couldn't help but turn her head to the side, feeling the warm and calming aura that was wrapped around the brunette.

"You have a pretty smile." Luna found that the girl blinked a few times, and then thanked her. "I'm Luna. This is my daddy."

Luna waved her hand towards her daddy—who introduced himself to her.

"I just wanted to say hi, I haven't seen you around before. I take it that you're a firstie. Good look at the Sorting," Mandy told them before she headed towards the train so that she could hop on and find her own compartment. Luna smiled some at the kindness that the girl had before she turned towards her daddy.

"I will write to you every week. Let me know how it goes, I love you," Xenophilius promised, earning another smile from Luna.

"I love you too, Daddy. Remember to drink your Gurdyroot tea every day," Luna responded before she leant forward and hugged her daddy, knowing that if she was more emotional that tears would be dripping down her cheeks and falling onto her dad's eccentric robes (they were bright green and blue—in odd shapes and patterns).

Pulling away from him after a minute, Luna turned on her heels and picked up her suitcase before she hummed and boarded the train—sparing one last look at her daddy before she continued onward.

The train was insanely active—everywhere she looked there were teenagers and preteens rushing throughout the train—some of them running into some of the compartments and others being pushed out of them by siblings that didn't want them sharing the same compartment as them.

Luna merely made her way forward while humming, looking into each of the compartments—her focus completely on the auras that were around her. She could see a few Nargles that were quietly following the students and slipping into some of the suitcases without them realizing.

Yes, they were mostly from mistletoes, which they liked to inhabit but eventually mistletoes went away and they infested other things—such as clothes and drawers and eventually suitcases, wanting nothing more than to explore outside of mistletoes and take clothes and other such things from unsuspecting victims.

"Luna!"

Looking away from the sight of a few older students, ones who looked as though they were at least fourteen, she found Ginevra standing outside of one the compartments, smiling at her. Luna made her way towards her, her head turned at the last minute when she saw a familiar light blond haired boy.

Sitting with his two large friends was Draco Malfoy, and he was raving on about something that had to do with the Ministry and how his father would sort things out. When he looked up he furled his eyebrows for a minute, as though he was trying to figure out why she was staring at him. He then scowled at her, as though daring her to continue to gawk at him.

She only looked away when she felt a hand touch hers, making her look up to see that Ginevra staring at her. She was slightly sun burnt, had a thousand freckles around her, and the trademark red hair that all the Weasleys had inherited.

"Hello Ginevra. I'm pleased to see that no Nargles are around you, there are a lot of them at your house, you know," Luna informed her, causing Ginevra to almost look bewildered at her before she pushed that comment aside.

"You know that you can call me Ginny, right Luna?" Ginevra probed to her and Luna nodded her head, agreeing with her, "I know, but I love your name."

Ginevra, no Ginny, frowned at that. "You'd be the first one," she grumbled before they heard the sound of the compartment near them opening, and for a moment Luna wondered if Draco Malfoy was opening his to tell them to continue on and to stop being in his view of sight.

Instead it was Neville Longbottom, a quite sweet but shy boy who was chubby and was holding a toad—his name was Trevor. Luna quite liked Trevor—unlike most people. She loved animals in general.

"Hello Neville, hello Trevor. It's probably for the best if we sit down. I don't want anymore Nargles bothering us," she announced before she walked towards the compartment that Neville was in—well he was standing in the doorway. She hummed again as she put her suitcase up in the luggage rack above them.

Sitting down on the right side of the compartment, Luna turned her attention all the way towards the red haired girl and the brunet boy that was holding a toad in his hands—one that did not care to be handled that way.

"I am quite surprised that you do not have any Nargles around you, Neville. They're quite mischievous you know, and they like to take things from you." Luna again was greeted with bewildered looks before Ginny shook her head.

"I'm certain that Nargles aren't the reason behind Neville losing everything, Luna. He's very forgetful. His grandmother even got him a Remembrall last year. Of course he ended up misplacing it too."

Luna opened her mouth to say something only for the train to start and the sound of footsteps began to walk down the aisle. All three of them knew that it was probably Draco Malfoy wanting to mess with unfortunate students.

She turned her head away and peered out at the scenery, all the while humming a tune that she remembered faintly from when she was little and her mother would sing it to her—it would repel Blibbering Humdingers.

"What are you humming, Luna? It's quite pretty."

It was Neville that was inquisitive and Luna turned her head, "it's a lullaby that my mum used to sing to me when I was little. It repels Blibbering Humdingers."

"What—"

The compartment door slammed open and Luna turned her attention completely to the person that was standing in the doorway. She didn't have to ask who it was because speaking of the devil—it was Draco Malfoy.

"What's this? I thought that your grandmother decided that you're a lost cause and decided to withdraw you, Longbottom. Or the least that you'd forget today," Draco mocked, making Neville frown and go to say something, only for him to turn his attention towards Ginny instead.

"A girl weasel, huh. I shouldn't be surprised that there'd be another one of you. Your poor blood traitor parents don't know when to stop, do they?" Again, Draco spat, causing Ginny to redden her face.

"Shut your mouth, Malfoy," she hissed, only for Draco to ignore her and set his eyes on the last occupant that was in the compartment.

"And who the bloody hell are you?" Draco scanned his eyes over her, almost expecting Luna to curl her limbs inward and stutter her name, or at least her surname—but instead Luna gazed at him unblinkingly.

"I expected to meet you soon enough, Draco. I'm Luna Lovegood."

The compartment froze, everyone was quiet and then Draco stuck his hand out—his pointer finger directed completely at her, "shut up, you no good Loon. You don't have the right to call me anything other than my surname. I've heard about that useless magazine that your father's an editor of. I should have realized it sooner, but only he would give birth to a—"

"The Quibbler is _not _useless, and I'm not a loon. I'm not surprised that you have a closed mind to things that are real but hard to explain," Luna argued, her eyes resembling storm clouds instead of mist.

"That's enough!"

Everyone turned their heads, finding a student that must have been a sixth or seventh year hissing at Draco and the others. He shot them one last glare before the compartment door closed and they were by themselves once more.

"Luna, I don't think that you're a loon."

Luna fixed her attention on Neville, finding that he was giving her a soft and reassuring smile but she knew the truth. No one she had met believed in her creatures that not everyone believed in—she had yet to meet anyone else that believed in them and it saddened her some but she could only hope that one day she would meet someone who did believe in them.

"That's very nice, Neville. I would like to not be bothered now." Luna turned her head towards the window and looked out at the scenery again. She could still feel the burning gazes from Ginny and Neville but she dismissed them as best as she could.


	3. the sorting

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_02:_**_ the sorting_

**Unlike Neville, Luna **didn't have an animal to bring to Hogwarts. She didn't have her own Trevor and she hadn't been worried about getting one. She had never been that worried about getting one, she had been told that there were owls that the school had that she could use if she needed to send a letter to her daddy.

Still, Luna found it quite sweet to have a pet owl to send letters and receive letters from their own personal owl. Of course Neville didn't fall that category, but she still found that she quite liked Trevor as much as she had first met him.

She got up from her spot when the train stopped, waiting for Ginny and Neville.

As soon as they did though she spun on her heels and walked out of the compartment and made her way down the aisle. At least she didn't have to see Draco Malfoy heading down the aisle—pushing and shoving people out of the way, it meant that he and his so called friends had already left.

Getting off the train, Neville bid them goodbye before he shuffled off in the direction of where the upper years' transportation to the school was.

Luna had been so lost in her thoughts before on the train that she had finally noticed the weather around her. A storm was around her—there was lightening and a heavy downpour of rain, along with the background noise of thunder. None of it frightened the odd girl; she thought that storms were beautiful.

"**_Firs' years_**! **_Firs'_** **_years over here_**!"

Luna turned her head, finding a tall man stood off in the distance. He must have been two times the height of a normal man and was five times as wide. He also had wild tangibly black hair with a matching beard. His hands were quite large themselves and he wore heavy leather boots. He even wore a moleskin overcoat.

"That's Hagrid, my brothers told me that he's Hogwart's groundskeeper," Ginny explained and Luna nodded her head, a small smile appearing on the corner of her lips. There was a different array of animals that were floating around him, ones that he could not see of course. Nargles were the most common though—she had a feeling that he misplaced things quite often.

She made her way towards the boats that were against the shoreline—it was the way that they could travel across the Black Lake so that they could get to the school. There were four to a boat and she entered one with Ginny. She wasn't afraid of the state of the lake; she merely clasped her hands together and ignored the other two students that had entered the boat with her and Ginny.

They traveled across the lake, and Luna stared up at the storm filled skyline above her. She knew that no sane person would feel comfort and marvel at the sky above her. She loved the feeling of the rain hitting her face and she closed her eyes, absorbing herself in the nature around her.

When they docked Luna got out of the boat and turned her head, finding that Ginny was getting out of the little boat with a look of misery across her face. It was apparent that she really didn't care for the weather. She had a look of bewilderment at the sight of Luna looking perfectly fine.

She dismissed the comments around her and headed towards stone stairs where a severe looking woman stood at the top, she had her hair scraped back in a tight bun. It was dark brown and streaks of gray were prominent. She wore deep purple robes and had her deep irises flickering over the students before she explained that they were going to be sorted into one of the four Houses and that those who were sorted into a House were going to be their family for the next seven years.

Luna went up the stairs after the woman, Professor McGonagall, went up the stairs. She was the Head of the Gryffindor House. She knew that the Weasleys always got a lot of detentions from the woman, and she didn't like to have favoritism but she was very enthusiastic about Quidditch.

She got in alphabetical order with the other kids and kept her hands in front of her, her fingers intertwined together. She glanced over at the students in front of her at the four tables. Each of them had banners above their tables near the end of the Great Hall, allowing her to see the mascots that represented their House along with the traditional House colors.

The Sorting Hat sang his song, another thing that Ginny had told her when they had run into each other at the pond near The Burrow. Luna sometimes went there so that she could sit and peer at the water and smile at how the skyline shimmered down at the pond, sometimes making the pond look like a mirror.

She watched as every student walked forward and was sorted, until she felt a gaze upon her and the other students—one that felt different than the others. She turned her head, her eyes catching on the sight of a lanky twelve year old boy with oil black messy hair and circular framed glasses. His eyes were beautiful, they were vivid green and they almost took her breath away.

She knew that he was Harry Potter.

She craned her head, finding that there were no Nargles that were around him. He must have remembered to bring everything with him—unlike Ginny's brother, Ronald (he preferred Ron), and he had a couple of Nargles around him, unlike Neville for once. Then there was the girl that must have been Hermione Granger. She was a Muggle-born and she was quite smart, very bright. The bushy haired girl with large front teeth hadn't noticed her yet. She also had a sort of shield around her, which kept all of the creatures that Luna could see away. She must have been more close minded than Luna thought that she was.

She turned her head away from them and looked forward, finding that there were two other students that were in front of her. She watched them get sorted and she stepped forward when her name was called. A few of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws scoffed at her, she knew that they had heard about her daddy and the Quibbler.

She sat down and felt the worn out hat being sat on her head, before she was welcomed with him speaking to her.

**_"Ah, you are a quite peculiar one, aren't you? I remember sorting both of your parents, Miss Lovegood. I had no doubt that your father was meant to be in Ravenclaw, your mother was a little harder. You would do very well in Gryffindor, you are brave and you stand for what you believe in, even if others don't believe in those very things._**

**_ "Then again you are very ambitious and thirst to know more in this world, so you would blossom in Ravenclaw. You are wise; you speak only what you want to and are ready to give out advice even if others aren't that eager to learn from your advice._**

**_ "Do you have a preference, my dear? I take your thoughts and opinions in account."_**

****Luna shook her head, allowing him to know that she was open towards either of the Houses, her eyes flickering over the students around her. Her eyes caught on the two tables where she would possibly be sorted into. She let her eyes wander over the Gryffindor House—where she glanced at Harry Potter, and then she let her eyes wander over to the Ravenclaw House was, and she was welcomed with the warm smile of Mandy Brocklehurst.

**_"Very well then….you shall be in RAVENCLAW!"_**

Luna turned her head towards the blue bannered table, where she was greeted with polite clapping. It was the normal reaction from the House when they weren't too excited or disappointed with their newest members.

She got up from her spot on the stool that was provided for the first years, and drifted off the stairs—not rushing towards the table. She could feel the burning gazes from some of the students, and sat down at one of the empty spots that were provided for the new first years.

As she sat down she turned her head, finding a few of the Ravenclaws had strange looks upon their faces. They had quiet discussions with each other with only their eyes and then Luna saw one of them turn their heads towards her.

"So you're a Lovegood, huh? Your surname sounds familiar."

Luna nodded her head, "yes, my daddy is the editor of the Quibbler."

At the mention of the magazine she earned a lot of sour looks from the students around her, as though they wanted to disregard the information that she had just given them. It was almost as though she had told them something that was taboo, something that would backfire.

"Oh so you're _one of those _people." A girl curled her nose back, as she studied Luna once more. The light dirty blonde haired girl could see that the girl had a shield around her, just like Hermione Granger. Not that there were any creatures that were wanting to swarm her, just like Hermione Granger, both of them seemed to be very good at remembering things.

"This was bound to happen eventually. We haven't had one of her kind around us for a few years. As long as she doesn't bother us too much we should be okay." It was a boy that had made this comment and Luna ignored the slight pang in her chest, reminding herself that she shouldn't care and that was enough that she straightened herself up and turned her head towards the Headmaster.

She should have realized that being in the House of Ravenclaw meant that most of the students had logic imprinted in them. Especially the ones that had been purebloods, and had been around the Lovegoods, or at least had to be at parties. Luna knew that being a pureblood of a family that was quirky meant that she would earn a lot of other pureblood families to scoff at her, and some of the half-bloods too.

When Professor Dumbledore was finished he waved his hands and food was in front of her, allowing Luna to turn her head and look at all the food that was magically placed in front of her. She somewhat became saddened at the fact that she couldn't have her Gurdyroot tea.

As she placed her chicken, along with random sidings onto her plate, Luna took a sip of her Pumpkin Juice before she looked at the Ravenclaws. "Can any of you tell me if there are any Gurdyroots around here? I don't want to run into any Gulping Plimpies. They are quite dangerous, if you didn't know."

"What the bloody hell are Gulping Plimpies?" it was the girl from earlier that had questioned Luna, and very well her sanity. She almost had a look of disgust appear on her face, as though she found the whole thing that Luna had said unappetizing, and would make her lose her appetite.

"Gulping Plimpies are fish that can be found in deeper creeks and rivers. They make the water look shallower and will drown you if you don't drink any Gurdyroot Tea." Luna had a look of dreamy excitement, and content, at the very thought of her sharing her knowledge of the creatures that she had come to love and appreciate and sometimes be weary of.

"There is no Gurdyroots around here, and there is no way that Gulping Plimpies exist. If they existed we would know by now," the girl scoffed at her as she took up her goblet and had a drink of her pumpkin juice.

"Just because not a lot of people see them doesn't mean that they don't exist," Luna defended, her face showing a little bit of irritation at the fact that the girl was completely close minded.

"No they are not, so please refrain from mentioning those nonexistent creatures around us. If you want friends then you need to stop this little…I don't know…whatever, stop talking about them." The girl placed her pumpkin juice down and took a bite of her chicken, as though letting Luna know that this discussion was over and that Luna should just be quiet.

Luna didn't sigh; she didn't show any emotion, as she picked up some of her food and began to eat it. She only looked up and felt a burning gaze on her. She turned her head, finding that Draco Malfoy was looking at her—his eyes scanning her and it was enough that she craned her head to the side.

She had never had an opinion on the Malfoy's; she didn't like to have an opinion on other people because she just didn't want to feel as though she was judging someone. She wanted to avoid being rude, or to think the wrong thing about other people. She also knew that her mum told her that she shouldn't care what other people thought of her though, and so Luna had to remind herself of this advice that her mum had given her before her sudden departure of the living.

"Lovegood, come on. It's time to leave."

Luna got up from her spot at the bench and followed the other first years, her eyes finally leaving Draco Malfoy's. She turned her attention away from the strange boy (okay so he wasn't her definition of strange in other's eyes, but still) and instead focused her attention on the Prefects that were leading the first years out of the Great Hall and towards the entrance hall of Hogwarts.

She didn't have any other students that walked with her, or talked to her, she was certain that there were some sitting near her that could hear the conversation that she was having with the upper years and they wanted to avoid her, in order to actually have the chance to earn friends.

She really didn't care, for real, this time. She instead let her arms swing around her and followed the Prefects to the Ravenclaw Tower. It was a few floors up and had an intricate spiral staircase that led to a wooden door with a knocker.

After the door requested an answer from a simple riddle, Luna entered with the others and was welcomed with the beautiful constellation decorated navy blue and silver high ceiling, and the blue decorations around her—including heavy navy blue drapes that were tied back with silver ropes. There were comfortable lounge chairs and an area that was for studying. There even was a small area where there was a bust of the founder of the House, Rowena Ravenclaw, with a diagram upon her head—it was silver and had blue jewels on it, it supposedly had given the wearer ultimate wit and wisdom.

It would not be until she was in her four poster curtained deep rich blue coveted bed that Luna wondered if she could find true friends, and that she wasn't going to be just friends with Ginny for the next seven years and no one else.


	4. Olympe De Gouges

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_03:_**_ Olympe De Gouges _

**Luna saw no reason** as to sleep as long as she could on her first day of real classes, especially if it meant that she could possibly try and make conversation with some of the other Ravenclaws at her table.

She got her few things that she needed out of her astronomy themed suitcase and went into the dormitory bathroom to get ready. She brushed her teeth and brushed out her hair, along with washing her face with a simple rag that the House Elves would provide for the students.

Leaving the bathroom, Luna went over to her bed and crouched down in front of her chest so that she could pull out knickknacks from her suitcase to put within the chest. She put in her sketchbook that she always doodled and sketched on whenever she would have free time. Then she put in a small wooden jewelry box that had been carved in the middle of the top of the box in the shape of a crescent moon.

Inside the jewelry box there was her birthday necklace along with a few other pieces of jewelry that had belonged to her mum. She liked having them near her; they never really came out to begin with. She only brought them out whenever there were special occasions and she could wear them or whenever it was her mum's birthday and she wanted to put them on or just sit on her bed and think of all the memories that she had of her mum.

Getting up from her spot on the floor that was right in front of the chest, Luna shut her chest and grabbed her simple brown leather messenger bag that had all her school books in it. She didn't pay attention to any of the girls that were still sleeping, downstairs there were a few students that were sitting around the Common Room and glanced up when they saw the new light blonde haired first year.

None of them said hello, most of them were skimming through their textbooks to make sure that they had read all that they needed to for the first term. Luna didn't stop and mingle, she was kind of hungry and she wanted to be down in the Great Hall and get some food so that she could look around the Great Hall and see if she could find any faces that were familiar or not and find friends in them.

She walked out of the Common Room through the door and wisped down the staircase. It wasn't as wide as one would like, but it could fit at least two people on the same step. She knew though that it would be a nightmare when there would be times where everyone was heading up and down the staircase—such as going back to the Common Room after dinner.

Luna hummed as she headed down the different corridors, her eyes flickering over the different portraits that were around her. She paused when she came across a seventeenth hundreds woman that sat at a French outdoor circular table—it was made of marble and pure gold. A beautiful landscape was behind her—full of endless blue skies and of trees that whipped in the background.

The woman had a long but upright nose, along with prominently shaped dark eyebrows that were artistically arched. She was insanely pale and had dark eyes; they were somewhat soft though when they gazed down at the girl that was looking up at her with complete interest.

The woman had scraped her hair back, it was a dark gray, and the woman studied her before she opened her mouth—as though to ask her something, only for Luna to speak before her.

"Do you know that you have an Oregic Oppera sitting in your teacup?" Luna craned her head to the side, looking down at the small and wispy little feathered creature that was sitting in the woman's tea. It was almost translucent—a very pale blue little bird like creature—but was barely visible, it was so small.

"What eez an airegic Oppaira? Ai 'avé nevair 'aird of such a théng befaire!" the woman looked distastefully at the teacup, as though she was considering that what Luna had said was true.

"Oh, an Oregic Oppera is a bird like little creature that looks like the spirit of a bird. It doesn't really have a solid form but it enjoys being around sweet things. It must like the sugar you put in your tea," Luna supplied, making the woman crane her head to the side, herself, before she pushed the teacup away.

"Ai knu la téa was too sweet zis mairneng. Now tell mé, lové, what's yur name? Ai am ulympé De Gouges." The woman brought her hand out and placed it on her chest, her chin tilted upwards as she introduced herself to Luna.

"I'm Luna, Luna Lovegood. It's nice to meet you Olympe De Gouges. I need to head down to the Great Hall but I'll come back and talk to you soon!" Luna waved goodbye to the woman in the portrait before she rushed down the corridor—not noticing that Olympe was shaking her head and chuckling, only to look down and find that the said creature had revealed itself.

Luna had already disappeared and was in her own train of thoughts to not hear the vulgar words that were sprawling out of Olympe De Gouges in French. It was a good thing that this wasn't Beauxbaton and that no students that knew French would have reported her to Professor Dumbledore.

She would have been faced with being charmed to not speak, which she didn't mind but still. She was usually pushed to the side here at Hogwarts because unless someone had French ancestral roots or had been transferred from Beauxbaton to Hogwarts she didn't really have anyone to talk to in her native language or just talk to period.

Luna headed down the main staircase to the entrance hall of the school, only to glance behind her when she saw a few students were rushing down the stairs—some of them excited while others were merely calm and collected.

Entering the Great Hall, Luna made her way towards the Ravenclaw table. The sunlight shimmered in from the windows and hit her hair, making her have an almost Fae substance about her.

Sitting down at an empty spot at the table, which was a little bit further than the other students (none of them even moved to make room for her), Luna began to pile some food onto her plate and took a sip of her Pumpkin Juice. She only looked up when she heard a tired sigh across the table from her.

Looking up, Luna found herself looking at the same girl that had spoken to her at the train station. "Hello, Luna."

"Hello, Mandy. I see that you don't have any Nargles around you, which is very good. There was a couple in my dormitory. I might have to start wearing my butterbeer caps necklace. They repel Nargles."

"What exactly are Nargles?" Mandy reached down and began to pile her food onto her plate, looking up at Luna with a curiosity that made Luna feel warmth wash through her a second time.

She began to tell Mandy about Nargles, and found that she quite liked that the girl did not interrupt her and demand that she stop talking. When she was done, Mandy took a long sip of her Pumpkin Juice before she spoke, "I don't believe in them, sorry Luna. I do respect your beliefs though. I think that we Ravenclaws are too quick to judge when it comes to things that cannot be explained. Just because I don't believe they exist doesn't mean that they don't for you."

Luna opened her mouth—as though she was going to say something, only for her and the rest of the body of students to hear the sound of an explosion from a Howler and then a famous rant, this one was curtsey from Mrs. Molly Weasley.

"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THEY EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET A HAND ON YOU. I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE.

"LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME. WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS; YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE DIED!

"ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED—YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"

Luna didn't blink during the whole duration of the rant, while other students were putting their hands up and covering their ears she merely took a sip of her Pumpkin Juice and watched as said Ron Weasley was blushing with red cheeks—and a said Harry Potter looked embarrassed as well.

She dismissed the sound of Draco Malfoy mocking Ron and Harry and instead turned around so that she could look back at Mandy. The said brunette was taking her hands off of her ears, a look of bewilderment at the sight of Luna not even flinching at the loud monstrosity that was Molly Weasley.

"How can you not be affected by that Howler, Luna?"

"Daddy receives many Howlers from people because of the Quibbler. Also, Loodo Moquarts are known to be louder than a normal Howler. They are—"

"Miss Lovegood, here is your schedule. If there are any problems, let me know right away." Luna turned her head, finding Professor McGonagall standing in front of her with her traditional black teaching robes and her pointed hat—apparently the deputy headmistress decided to hand out the schedules today.

Luna took the schedule from the woman and thanked her.

Unlike most eleven year olds, Luna did not feel irritation at having been cut off by another person. She found that sometimes it was inconvenient but she could pick up from where she left off.

Or at least that was what she was planning on doing if it weren't for Mandy looking down at her schedule and then blinking two times. A scowl appeared on her face and she apologized to Luna before she got up from her spot on the bench and made her way to Professor McGonagall. Apparently there was something wrong with her schedule.

Glancing down at hers, Luna found that her classes for today, along with Thursdays were double Transfiguration, along with Charms and History of Magic. Tuesdays and Wednesdays was Astronomy along with Defense Against the Dark Arts, and lastly Friday was Herbology and Flying Lessons.

Knowing that it was probably time for her to go to her first class of the day, Luna got up from her spot at the table and made her way out of the Great Hall and in the direction of the entrance hall.

Luna spent Double Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs—all of whom fell into two categories, excited but nervous or completely having an anxiety attack. Luna merely sat at her desk with a fellow Ravenclaw next to her—her eyes trained forward to Professor McGonagall, waiting to hear her instructions.

Of course Luna was introduced to the importance of said subject and how it would be used every day. She watched as the older woman walked around the classroom, her eyes as sharp as a hawk's. Any student that wasn't doing what they were told was given a stern look and Luna did not find herself being one of them.

She merely did what Professor McGonagall asked of her. It did take her a couple of times for her to have a somewhat acceptable object. She was told by said professor that she was doing a good job and that she shouldn't overdo herself but at the same time to still put effort into it.

When class was over, Luna gathered her things together and tucked her wand behind her ear before she headed in the direction of her second class—which happened to be Charms. Her parents were all right with Charms, her mum though enjoyed Potions and she also adored Herbology.

Walking into said Charm class, Luna smiled up at Professor Flitwick as he stood on the tall pile of books that were placed in a tower like formation. He was a short man, a little person, with a bushy brown mustache and a flop of brown hair that went vertical on either side of his head. He wore glasses and happened to have a squeaky voice—he was also the Head of the Ravenclaw House.

Sitting down at a random table, one that wasn't in the front of the classroom but wasn't at the back at the same time—Luna turned her head when she saw Ginny enter the room and wave her hand towards her. Ginny smiled and sat down at the chair that was closest to her at the table next to her.

"Hi, Luna, how was your last class?"

Despite her random words of sass towards Draco Malfoy, because of her defending Neville, Ginny was a withdrawn girl and didn't speak much. She often kept to herself and was quite timid.

"It was quite educational, as it should be. How was your first class?" Luna probed to her, earning a quiet, "it was fine," from the red haired girl before they heard the squeaky clearing of a throat in the front of the classroom.

Turning their heads forward, Luna watched as Professor Flitwick introduced himself and then gave them a brief synopsis of the importance of Charms. He wasn't as intense as Professor McGonagall but he still had a tone in his voice that let others know that they should listen to him and not take his more calm approach towards his said subject that he taught lightly.

"It is quite all right if you don't get the hang of it in the beginning. Some of the greatest scholars and witches and wizards of all time did not get the hang of what made them great right away. It took time and patience and focus and determination in order to succeed!" Professor Flitwick almost wobbled off his tower of books in his heat of a speech, earning a couple of amused smirks and quiet giggles.

"I'm going to put on the board our first three Charms that we will be learning. If any of you know what they are please raise your hand and tell us."

_Wingardium Leviosa_

_ Rictusempra _

_ Mobilicorpus _

Luna did know all three of the Charms—Wingardium Leviosa could make an object fly, then Rictusempra could tickle an opponent and finally there was Mobilicorpus—which could make objects move with their wand.

She didn't have time to raise her hand though, because one of the other Ravenclaws already raised their hands and answered the first Charm. A Gryffindor shyly answered the second and finally another Ravenclaw answered the third one.

Professor Flitwick was pleased, and clapped his hands together—excited that the students in the class knew their material. She had a feeling that this class would be fine, but she was also glad that she shared this class with Ginny.


	5. Gilderoy Lockhart

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_04:_**_ Gilderoy Lockhart _

**Luna knew that **when she had received her list for school supplies for her first year that she wasn't that excited when it came to seeing that most of the textbooks that she had to get were by Gilderoy Lockhart. Most of the authors of the books that were used at Hogwarts had lengthy back stories that she could look into if she was curious about them, yet when she had looked up Gilderoy Lockhart there weren't any remarkable comments about him other than he was amazing and that he was the greatest wizard that specialized in Defense Against the Dark Arts that they'd ever seen.

That and she could admit that when she was studying what she needed she wasn't too thrilled to see the face of said author on the cover with blinding straight white teeth and golden locks and chiseled good looks. She knew that her mum wouldn't be that too impressed when it came to Gilderoy Lockhart.

So after she was done with Astronomy, which she could say was absolutely one of her favorite classes, she made her way towards Lockhart's classroom. Professor Sinistra was pleased when she had seen someone with a passion towards astronomy and had taken a liking to Luna.

She had Astronomy with Hufflepuff, and now Luna found herself going to the class where she shared with the Slytherins. She knew that it wouldn't be as bad as it could have been if she had been sorted into Gryffindor. It was an obvious type of petty rivalry that was between both of the founders of their Houses that in the end absorbed itself into the two Houses themselves and continued on for centuries.

Entering the classroom, Luna blinked a few times—having thought that she had imagined seeing this type of creature around her. They were almost one of the rarest creatures there ever existed; one could find numerous amounts of the creatures that she spoke of before they could find this creature. They could find Nargles before they could find these irritating little pests.

_Videra Expera's _

They actually looked just like blue dragonflies but were gray until they would come close to someone that had an aura that was full of discreetness and lies. Then when they were in that person's aura they would become vivid blue.

At the moment though they were all grey, none of them bright blue but she knew that the person that had attracted these little Videra Expera's would soon come into the classroom and they would fly towards that person like a magnet.

"What are you looking at?"

Luna turned her head, finding that two Ravenclaw girls that were in her year were narrowing their eyes at her. The one that had spoken had simple and average features, and had her black hair pulled back in a low ponytail. Her brown irises flickered with irritation.

"I'm just looking at the Videra Expera's, they're everywhere. They are very rare, rarer than Nargles. They are quite beautiful but—"

"Wait, what? What did she just say?"

Luna turned her head, finding that a few of the students that were Slytherins were peering at her with weariness. A few of them had a couple of Videra Expera's buzzing over their heads but they were mostly throbbing with vivid blue.

"I was telling them about Videra Expera's and Nargles. They are very—"

"You're the one that Malfoy was talking about earlier this week. He said that there was a Loony girl that was talking about random creatures that don't exist. You even called him by his first name."

There was hatred dripping from the lips of one of the Slytherins, enough that Luna almost widened her eyes at the strength behind the hatred. There was no reason as to hating someone—she never cared for hatred. She knew that hatred sometimes was there because there were horrible people out there that had done horrible things but she found that it was sad that some people were so brainwashed by the social standing that they grew up on that they had to hate people that were everything that they weren't—especially if a said person was Luna Lovegood.

Luna stood there, with no emotion revealing itself on her features, as the Slytherins all began to gang up on her—spewing derogatory words and horrid slang words. She knew that showing no emotion meant that they weren't going to get anywhere and they soon grew tired of bullying her when they found that she wasn't going to run out of the classroom and go cry into one of the girls' bathrooms.

It was about fifteen minutes into the class that Gilderoy Lockhart actually ended up in the classroom. He wore expensive robes, and shot warm smiles towards the students as he introduced himself. Automatically as soon as he stayed in place all of the Videra Expera's surrounded him—flocking to him and turning the brightest blue that she had ever seen.

Luna itched to have her sketchbook so that she could sketch out the Videra Expera's that were around Professor Lockhart. She couldn't care less about him spewing lies from his lips or the fact that their introduction quiz had to be about him, personally, and what his favorite color was and everything that had graced his presence or he had ever touched it seemed like.

She sighed and watched the Videra Expera's that were just floating over the smirking professor—the sunlight that streamed into the room hit their wings in a beautiful manner. She might not like why they were here—Luna had always hated being around liars, she did know that in dire times that someone had to lie in order to protect others but she also knew that being a carefree liar wouldn't be good in the end.

"Miss Lovegood, may I speak to you when class is over? I wanted to go over the quiz from earlier." Professor Lockhart shot her a charming smile, but Luna merely stared at him without blinking, "Yes, sir."

Even Professor Lockhart almost shivered from the girl, not liking how she wasn't blinking much in class and that she had been looking above his head—as though she was seeing something that wasn't there. He had seen many different people when he was getting stories from their sources that were looking above his head with irritation in their eyes and even two women had put a protection charm around their house, as though to make sure that he couldn't enter their domain.

Luna waited until class was over to get up from her desk and drift towards the professor, dismissing the few students that were in the background—well mostly the Slytherins, who were excited to report back to Draco Malfoy that they had met Luna and that she was just as loony as they were told.

"Miss Lovegood, I am very disappointed. You're a Ravenclaw, so you must enjoy reading!" Professor Lockhart's voice was indeed filled with disappointment and Luna merely stood in front of him—watching him as he picked up her quiz.

"I do enjoy reading, Professor Lockhart. I was looking forward to having my first quiz and being tested on my knowledge for Defense against the Dark Arts. I didn't expect to be quizzed on you though," Luna responded.

Professor Lockhart paused, having not expected such a blunt response from the strange girl to begin with. "Very well, I must remember that not everyone is a fan of my work, which is a shame. You may go now, Miss Lovegood."

"Thank you, Professor Lockhart." Luna spun on her heels and left the classroom, knowing that her last class of the day happened to be Potions.

She didn't see the displeased expression that was on Gilderoy Lockhart's face as he formed a frown and his eyes lost some of their shine and natural brightness. If it were two things that Professor Lockhart never liked—it was being ignored, and not liked. He was one of those people that couldn't stand if just one person in the whole world didn't like him, he had to have everyone adore and idolize him.

It didn't help either that when she was done with classes for the day that she could hear all the longing comments from others that had ridiculous crushes on Professor Lockhart. Sure he was good looking; though Luna didn't really think he was—his teeth were blinding white and she didn't care for the fact that he had Videra Expera's surrounding him either.

She wasn't having crushes on boys; she never had a crush on any boy before. Well she didn't have a crush, period, before. It might have done with the fact that her family was very reclusive and that no one really talked to the Lovegoods and no one was really interested in talking to Luna.

Even now, as she was doing her homework in the Common Room, at one of the tables that were provided for doing such a thing—no one came up to her. She was reading the chapter that she needed to read for Professor Snape. She had to admit that she was hit with a wave of pure sadness when she had entered the dungeon classroom.

There were two types of creatures that were in the dungeon—drifting towards Professor Snape. They were ones that fed off of depression, and inner turmoil.

One of them was a quite large fuzzy tarantula like creature that dripped black liquid that would mark the host they had chosen so that they could claim the host. It was called an Enweab Ondula.

The second creature was a Mulimu Lurome. It was a tiny albino like bat that flew around the host's head so that it could absorb the aura that was provided for them to feast on.

It had taken Luna a moment to compose herself when she saw the creatures around Professor Snape. She never knew much about him, other than the fact that most of the Wizarding World was weary around him—due to his dark past.

"Hey, Lovegood, why did Professor Lockhart ask you stay after class?"

Luna looked up from the chapter that she was reading, finding that there was one of the first year boys standing on the other side of the wooden desk and had his arms folded against his chest—his eyes scanning over her.

"He probably found out about her being a loon and wanted to see if it was true. I mean, he's one of the greatest explorers out here in the Wizarding World! There's no doubt in my mind that—"

"Professor Lockhart wanted to know why I didn't do my quiz. He wasn't that happy to know that I am not a fan of him. After all, why would someone want to admire someone who has Videra Expera's around them?"

"There she goes again. I heard her talking about some weird arse animals before but now I'm about to be told about this weird creature too." Luna turned her head, finding that it was one of the upper years that were sitting at the Ravenclaw table near her when she had been sorted into the House.

Luna looked back down at her textbook, knowing that it would be for the best if she didn't say anything more about the creatures. It was one thing for her to say something and then someone tell her that they didn't believe in her—but it was another thing if she just fell easily into their harsh words and continued on.

She heard the Common Room door open and a few more students come into the Common Room—gossiping about something random. She didn't pay them any attention even though she did hear Harry Potter's name in the mix. That had been something that had been happening a few times a day, she had to admit.

Being in the Ravenclaw House meant that there were students that couldn't stand Harry Potter or there were ones that were neutral and lastly there were ones that in love with him. She didn't know why someone could say that they were in love with someone that they hadn't even met before.

Besides, she knew the truth. They only loved the status, the title, the glory that came with being Harry Potter. She didn't find that it was glorious to be a target of Voldemort and having your parents murdered while you were an infant and you had the killing curse not do its job.

She might not have lost both of her parents, but she had lost her mum and that was enough that Luna could feel as though she could relate to that sort of hollowness that she was starting to try and fill. She knew that she would never truly be the same without her mum, but she needed to be her best when it came to living. She needed to show her mum that she would keep living and that she would let her know that she wouldn't let her death stop her from achieving her dreams.

"You have to admit that it is really childish that Potter and Malfoy always get into fights with each other. I know that they're only twelve but still, it's really annoying. It makes it even more irritating that it's Malfoy that always antagonizes him. He's nothing but a pest. He makes us purebloods look like stuck up brats. Not all of us are."

Luna didn't look towards the blonde girl that had spoken; she didn't really care to know all of the family members of pureblood families. She just knew that purebloods either agreed with the Malfoy's or they didn't.

Obviously Luna and her daddy didn't agree.

"Look at his parents though. I mean, they were connected with You-Know-Who. It isn't really that surprising to have them raise their son into being this little irritating blood purist. I'm happy that we only have to deal with him for two more years, and then we'll be gone."

This one that had spoken was the blonde's best friend. She was a brunette with a lot of freckles but with soft brown eyes. She was tan, which was kind of odd at Hogwarts since almost everyone was sort of pale (except for the Patil twins, along with Harry Potter and Blaise Zabini), and she didn't have a strong British accent.

Luna thought that she had heard someone say that the brunette had come from America a few years ago and was slowly regaining her original British accent she had when she had been little and still lived in England.

Making herself focus on the rest of her homework, Luna dismissed the gossip around her for good—knowing that it would be best to leave the gossip alone for the rest of the night.


	6. broomsticks

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_05:_**_ broomsticks _

** Luna never cared **for Quidditch. Her family wasn't known for having any person in their bloodline produce a single Quidditch player who made it big or even wanted to pursue Quidditch as a full time job. She wasn't surprised if there had been at least one or two ancestors that had become players for their House.

She wasn't excited for the beginning of Quidditch season; she was going to go to the matches though. She wouldn't ignore them completely.

After all she might not have cared for the sport but that didn't mean that she wouldn't go and watch them. It also might have to do with the fact that she wanted to see a match of Harry Potter and Gryffindor's playing against the other Houses.

"Did you hear?"

Luna turned her head, seeing that it was Lisa Turpin that had spoken. The girl was always ready to tell the other members of the House things that had to do with Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.

Luna was currently sitting in one of the navy blue Victorian Era chair that was pointed towards the fireplace. She had been reading a book about different exotic creatures when she had heard the door open and someone enter—now she was greeted with Lisa Turpin standing near the middle of the Common Room, allowing everyone to turn their attention towards the dark haired girl.

"Malfoy is the new seeker for Slytherin! His father bought the whole team the newest model! Not only that but he called Granger a Mudblood!"

Luna did stiffen when she heard that racial slur—causing some of the Ravenclaws to stiffen too and shake their heads, not knowing why anyone should even use that word to begin with. Luna looked back down at her book, ignoring the brightly colored birds that moved on the two pages that were provided for them.

Getting up from her chair, Luna went upstairs and grabbed her satchel that she had brought with her and had made herself through time and effort—it was crocheted (the fabric looked like it was fit for five years ago, with the psychedelic colors that were in swirls and the fabric flowers that she had glued onto the satchel with little gems on them). She put her book into her satchel and walked out of the Common Room entirely, ignoring Lisa as she sat down in the previous chair that Luna had occupied—ready to tell them all about what had happened.

Going down the multiple corridors, Luna made her way towards the Gryffindor Tower so that she could see if she could speak to Ginny. She had always thought that it would have been nice if she had a portrait as the portal into her Common Room—alas she had a knocker that spoke and gave riddles, which wasn't bad at all. There was nothing wrong with having your knowledge challenged but sometimes she would have liked to be greeted with an actual hello from a portrait.

Reaching the Fat Lady, Luna smiled warmly up at the woman. The Fat Lady looked down at her, "oh, hello, dear! A Ravenclaw, I see. What's your name?"

"I'm Luna Lovegood. I'm friends with Ginevra Weasley. She likes to be called Ginny though." Luna peered up at the woman dreamily, finding that the woman had a spark in her eye appear.

"Ah! Word has gotten around the grape vine, Miss Lovegood! Violet told me about you talking to Olympe De Gouges! It is quite nice for you to have visited her. I would invite her over if it wasn't so hard for me to understand her…" she drifted off, lost in a train of thought before she cleared her throat.

"I don't recall seeing Miss Weasley entering the Common Room within the last few hours. She's been very quiet lately. I am sorry that I cannot help you anymore." The Fat Lady sent Luna a smile and nodding her head, Luna thanked her before she walked down the corridor, remembering that Ginny had said earlier that she would probably spend most of her time in the library when her brothers dismissed her.

So Luna made her way towards the library, quietly waving greetings towards some of the portraits—they must have heard that she would stop and talk to them if she was near them. Luna could walk down the corridors as long as possible, talking to all the portraits to learn more from them and what Houses they were put into in the future but not now.

Reaching the library, Luna entered and found that Madam Pince was standing behind her check out and check in and overall information desk—her beady irises flickering around in order to make sure that all of the students were respecting their books (well technically she liked to call them _hers_). She glanced over at Luna though, her eyes scanning over Luna and pausing when she saw the bright colored satchel that Luna possessed.

Drifting away from the direction where Madam Pince stood—in her dark robes and sour features that would have looked beautiful if she wasn't so sour all the time—Luna began her search for Ginny.

She didn't care if the woman was burning holes in the back of her skull, even if Luna was a Ravenclaw she had to admit that her House was known for missing due dates when it came to bringing back their books. They took good care of their books but sometimes they lost them or brought them back too late.

There were a couple of students that were in the aisles, one of them being a Chinese girl with sweet brown eyes and deep black hair that draped over her shoulders and stopped mid waist. She was humming and looking through the books, she was a Ravenclaw that was a third year.

"Hello Cho Chang."

Luna knew that her name was Cho Chang and that she was an excellent Seeker, although she hadn't tried out for the Quidditch team this year. She always had her reddish-blonde curly haired friend, Marietta Edgecombe, trailing after her with slumped shoulders.

Cho jumped a few inches in the air in shock before she turned her head, finding Luna standing at the end of the aisle with her large bluish gray irises still as misty as they ever could be. "Oh, hello…Luna Lovegood, right?"

"Yes, I am Luna Lovegood. I just wanted to say hello. Now I need to go and find Ginny. Goodbye." Luna continued onward, earning a wave from Cho as she furled her eyebrows—not knowing how to respond to that peculiar behavior that the girl had towards greeting and departures.

It didn't take that much longer for Luna to find Ginny at the desk that was all the way in the back—the last one that was up against the wall. She was curled together and she was writing rapidly in something. Luna turned her head to the side, wondering what Ginny was doing.

As she made her way towards Ginny, Luna felt a cold shiver drape over her and she shivered a little bit. She had never been in the presence of this aura before and as she came closer to Ginny she saw the aura around Ginny seemed a tad bit darker than it normally was.

"Ginny."

Ginny didn't notice Luna calling her name, or addressing her, and Luna went up next to Ginny—finding that her eyes were a little droopy and that there were dark lines etched under her eyes that let Luna know that she wasn't getting any sleep like she should have been getting. Luna tried to tell herself that it was because it was their first year at Hogwarts and that it was common for most of the students in her year to be extremely exhausted.

"Ginny it's me."

Luna noted that Ginny's hair wasn't brushed out like it normally was. Usually Ginny was obsessive when it came to her hair. She hated having the cursed hair that her family had throughout the generations. Unlike most believed, her hair wasn't as straight as people thought that it was. Her hair always had a natural curl to it despite how hard she tried to charm it or put some spell hair lotion in her hair when she went to sleep so that it would be straight in the morning.

No, Ginny sat slumped forward and her attention was focused completely on the paper in front of her. Luna looked down and almost took a step backwards, her throat clamping up when she saw that there was a pitch black aura that was surrounding the journal. She reached into her satchel and brought out a simple black onyx stone so that she could put it on the journal and gain Ginny's attention.

Sitting it directly onto the journal, Luna watched as a little bit of Ginny's eyes lost their lifelessness and she blinked a few times before she looked up and found Luna hovering over her.

"Oh, hi, Luna, it's nice to see you. I'm sorry I didn't hear you. I was just writing…" Ginny let her eyes flicker down towards the black onyx stone that was sitting on the journal, her eyebrows furled together.

"What is that? Why did you put it on my journal?" Ginny added to the confusion by touching the stone, feeling it cleanse her and she took a deep breath as the stone absorbed all of the negativity that was upon her.

"It's a black onyx stone. It is a form of chalcedony that is completely black, of course. It absorbs and transforms lower energies while providing a supportive, strong, and stable energy nearby for anyone where it rests."

"I went up to Madam Pomfrey and got me some Pepper up Potion the other day. This really helps too." Ginny picked up the stone and rolled it in her hands, peering down at the dark but beautiful healing and protection stone.

Luna turned her head when she heard the sound of movement off in the distance. She had heard tales of where Madam Pince had seen things that could damage books and the last thing she wanted was for the librarian to take away the healing and protection stone because there was something wrong with Ginny and her book.

That book wasn't good for her, and Luna knew that as long as Ginny kept things that repelled bad auras so that she could prolong the effects before Luna managed to get her to get rid of the book then everything should be fine…for now.

"You keep it, Ginny. I have plenty more. I'm happy to help." Luna sat down on the other side of the table and watched as Ginny sat it down next to the journal and glanced down at it before she shook her head and shut the journal and looked back up at Luna, finding that the girl was calmly peering out the window and in the direction of where the Quidditch pitch was.

"How have you been Luna?" Ginny watched as Luna turned her head away from the window and turned her attention completely back to her. The sunlight shimmered in and hit Luna full on—making her have this unearthly glow to her that would make those who truly knew her only add an odd prettiness to her.

"Oh, it is fine. I haven't made any friends yet though. None of them believe in Nargles or Videra Expera's or—" Luna paused and then continued, "they don't believe in the creatures that I know are out there. Draco Malfoy has been trying to start a trend of having people call me Loony Lovegood too."

This caused Ginny to straighten up all the way and a look of anger appear in her eyes. "He's calling you _what_? That's not right, Luna! You need to tell Professor Flitwick immediately! Or better yet you need to tell Professor McGonagall or Professor Dumbledore!"  
Luna shook her head and smiled at Ginny, "oh no, it is fine, Ginny. I know that I'm odd, I know the names that everyone calls my daddy, I know that me and my daddy are more open towards things that exist out there or probably don't exist that others don't believe in but we have a better chance at finding out if they exist because we are more open towards them appearing before us.

"I'm not letting these words hurt me. So don't worry." Luna looked in her satchel and pulled out her spiral notebook before she sat it down onto the table and brought out some of her pencils that she would use to sketch out the outline of her latest creature that she had seen—which happened to be the Videra Expera's, so that she could actually draw them and send the sketch to her daddy.

Her daddy said that he was excited to hear that she had seen them when she was around Professor Lockhart and that he was going to try and see if he could do an article on the said professor and how he was telling lies. Not only that but he was going to see if he could actually put her sketch into the magazine.

Luna had always wanted one of her sketches to be put into the Quibbler. Her family had always been devoted subscribers to the magazine ever since it came out. Her daddy had gotten the job of being the editor of the magazine when Luna had been born and the magazine had come out a few years before Luna had been born.

"I'm here for you, Luna. If you need someone to go to any of them we can go together. You're my friend, after all." Ginny shot Luna a small smile and Luna shot her back a warm smile—happy that what Ginny had said was true, that she really was her friend.

At least she had one friend.

They sat in comfortable silence as Luna sat there and began to sketch out the Videra Expera's—all the while Ginny pushed her journal out of the way and started on some homework that she needed to do.

Luna drew the outline of Professor Lockhart. She wanted to do it to where she made the face without any features but she had him have the same hair color and the same robes. The Videra Expera's were bright blue while the furthest ones were gray, showing that the ones that were around him showed his lies.

She had gotten so enraptured by her sketch that she didn't know she had sat there for hours until she felt a hand touch hers and she looked up, finding that Mandy was standing in front of her and that she had a look of concern on her face.

"It's getting pretty late, Luna. It's almost dinner time. You hadn't come back from the library and you were gone and I wondered where you were. No one else seemed to care, but I heard Cho Chang saying that she had met you and that you were kind of an odd ball after all."

Luna closed her sketch and looked forward, finding that Ginny was gone and that she hadn't said goodbye either. Sitting off to the side was the black onyx stone—allowing Luna to know that Ginny wasn't going to take it after all.

Picking up the stone, Luna put it into her satchel and got up from her spot at the table. She followed Mandy out of the library—all the while feeling slightly hurt at the fact that Ginny had pushed aside the healing and protection stone even though Luna had given it to her.

Ginny never pushed aside gifts that Luna gave her.


	7. enemies of the heir

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**06: **_enemies of heir _

** On Halloween one **could find Luna Lovegood wearing black and orange striped leggings under her traditional Hogwarts uniform. She also had Jack-o-Lantern earrings that had the carved faces upon them gleaming golden, as though she actually had a candle within the pumpkins. She had earned a few odd looks from some of the other Ravenclaws but there were maybe one or two other Ravenclaws that were impressed by the charm that she had done on the earrings—but she didn't have them charmed, these were earrings that Luna's mum wore whenever Halloween rolled around the corner.

She made her way through the day, absorbing the glances that she had been bestowed with. She even had Professor Flitwick pause and turn to her before saying that he remembered her mum wearing those exact earrings. Luna had been excited to tell him that they were the very same earrings and he smiled some before saying that he liked her mum and that she was a good student before they wandered off in their own directions again.

The only thing that Luna wanted to do was to spend the day with Ginny but every time she tried to find her it seemed as though the girl had disappeared all entirely. She'd look out the large windows to see if she could find the red haired girl outside—wandering around but she couldn't find her.

So when Luna turned away from the latest window and saw that Ronald Weasley or Ron as he liked to be called, walking down the hallway with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger she thought of going up to them but paused for a moment—wondering if he really did know where Ginny was.

Deciding that she did indeed need to go up to Ron and ask her where his sister was, Luna began to make her way towards the three second years only for her to pause when she saw that Ginny was rounding the corner and that she looked worse for wear. She was stopped by Ron, who was scolding at her and telling her that she needed to take better of herself before the three upperclassmen continued onward—none of the three had even given a glance to Luna.

Rushing forward, Luna reached Ginny as she was curled up together—her arms tucked inwards as she looked off in the distance. Luna could tell that the girl almost quivered as though she was going to break at any moment. It made her concerned for her and reaching her, Luna brought her hand out and touched Ginny's shoulder, which in return made the girl jump in her skin.

"Oh! Luna, I didn't see you there!"

"No one ever does."

For anyone else they would have sadness in their tone, or anger but instead Luna merely stated this as though she was giving an answer to a quiz. It made Ginny frown some more as she sighed, "They should notice you. You're a good friend, Luna. I'm sorry that I haven't been hanging out with you these past two weeks. I've just been really tired and I'm afraid that if I hang out with you that I'll pass out on you and I don't want to be rude."

"I was about to ask Ronald where you were but I don't need to anymore." Luna gave her a small smile and wrapped her arm around Ginny before she pulled her in the direction of where the Ravenclaw Common Room was.

She had yet to have Ginny visit her and she wanted her to come. That way they could sit and talk quietly in the Common Room or just sit and do homework together or even just sit there and read next to each other.

"Where are we going, Luna?"

"I'm taking us to the Ravenclaw Tower—"

For once Luna was stopped from the feeling of an arm yanking her backwards, and when she turned her head she saw that Ginny was shaking her head. "I just need to go to Madam Pomfrey. She'll let me rest some."

"I'll take you to her." Luna wrapped her arm around Ginny's arm once more as they made their way to the infirmary so that Ginny could get some rest.

As they made their way towards the infirmary Luna could feel the tiredness drip from her best friend as though she was just another saline bag that was dripping too long, it was a pulsating drip.

"Thank you for being my friend, Luna. I'm sorry about the stone, I completely forgot about it. It slipped my mind." Ginny leant over so that she was resting her head against Luna's shoulder and Luna merely allowed the girl to talk about anything and everything, about how she was adjusting to Hogwarts and how she was apologizing for not being with Luna for two weeks.

Luna arrived at the infirmary and handed Ginny over to Madam Pomfrey, whom would fuss over the red haired girl and demand that she get some rest. Luna left the first year once she was in a cot and was being attended to by Madam Pomfrey. Luna hadn't been injured enough to end up in the infirmary yet.

Leaving the infirmary, Luna went down the corridors again and paused when she saw the familiar red haired faces of the Weasley twins, Fred and George. They were both leaning against one of the walls and were discussing something that probably had to do with their pranks and tricks.

Luna liked the twins.

They always had the prettiest animals that circulated them. There were too many that she could count and they often were the nicest animals that Luna had ever seen. Vivid greens and blues and oranges and reds and every color under the rainbow—these were what the animals looked like.

"Hello."

Fred and George turned their heads, finding the short and light aura filled girl standing near them with her ditzy like eyes. She gave them a small smile and was greeted with:

"Nice earrings—"

"Lovegood."

Luna smiled more when she heard the compliment. "Thank you, Fred and George. They were my mum's. She always did love Halloween. As do the creatures around you, I don't know the names of all of them but I know a few."

Both twins blinked for a second or two, but thankfully before they could say anything they could hear the sound of footsteps thundering down in the direction of where the twins and Luna were standing.

"Fred! George! If you don't go back into the Common Room and fix what you did then I'm going to send a letter to Mum!"

Luna turned her head, finding that Percy was rushing towards them with his glasses on crooked and a part of his robes were burnt. She craned her head to the side, watching as the twins frowned at Percy before they followed the sixth year—probably just so that they could prank him before they would go up to the Common Room.

Luna shrugged before she walked out of the school and headed around the outskirts of the school, she always liked wandering around the campus. The grass was blowing gently from the wind and the Giant Squid was under the water. One day Luna wanted to feed it or at least swim over to it so that she could have a conversation with the delightful creature that others were frightened of.

Finding a rock to sit on, Luna plopped down and allowed the cool wind to blow at her hair. She closed her eyes and thought of how her mum used to brush her hair and hum that same old lullaby she had been humming on the first day of school. She thought of how her mum always made her necklaces so that Luna could walk around and let them repel creatures that neither of her parents could see.

Opening her eyes, Luna glanced around the campus and found that the Whooping Willow was still aggravated at having been injured during the Weasley Ford Anglia incident that would go down into the books for the school to always remember. Some of its limbs were still in slings.

Turning her head away from the tree, Luna stood up from her spot on the rock and went to take off her shoes only for her to hear—

"Are you really as insane as I think you are?"

Luna turned around with her shoes in her hands to see that Draco Malfoy was standing in front of her with widened eyes at the sight that he had been greeted with. She looked down at her black shoes and then back up to Draco.

"What do you mean, Draco Malfoy? I just thought that it would be nice to dip my feet into the water. The weather is oh so lovely—"

"No, it's not. The weather is quite dreadful, Lovegood. Why are you even out here to begin with? Why aren't you with that weasel girl?"

"Her name is Ginny, I like the weather unlike you, and she's not feeling good right now. I'm certain that Madam Pomfrey is allowing her to take a nap. As for you, I am surprised that you are out here without Vincent and Gregory. They always follow you…it must be tiresome sometimes."

Draco blinked a few more times, before scowling, "that's not the point, Lovegood. By the way, you already know that it's not best for you to call other purebloods by their first names only. It's Crabbe and Goyle, not Vincent and Gregory. I don't even call them by their first names!"  
Luna smiled some, showing her perfect white teeth, "You've pointed out that I'm not normal, Draco Malfoy. I am certain that I calling them by their first names won't make things different. I'll always be the Loony Lovegood that you've recently coined for me, aren't I?"

Luna turned towards the lake and sighed when she remembered that she had leggings on and that she couldn't dip her bare feet into the water. "I guess I'm not going to be able to enjoy the weather as much as I thought I would. I think that I'm going to go inside. Are you coming, Draco?"

Draco Malfoy turned his head towards Luna, opening his mouth as though he was going to tell her to go to hell or something but he shook his head. "No, you go ahead and go Lovegood. I came out here to get away from the goons anyway."

"Goodbye Draco and Happy Halloween."

Luna went back into the school without her shoes on, holding them in her hands. She spent the rest of the day wandering around the castle and talking to portraits—hearing about their stories of what they did for Halloween at Hogwarts for the years long before she had been thought of.

When it was time for dinner Luna slipped on her shoes again and headed down the main staircase so that she could go into the Great Hall. Other Ravenclaws and some Gryffindor's followed after her or were ahead of her. Conversations stirred around her and she didn't care to eavesdrop on them—she was mostly excited to eat the Halloween decorated and themed food that was provided for her.

Entering the Great Hall, Luna went in the direction of where the Ravenclaw table was and sat down before she waited for Professor Dumbledore to make his grand annual speech for the holiday.

She was sitting at the end of the table, away from the others, since none of them wanted to sit next to her. Mandy wasn't even sitting next to her but Luna didn't care. She thought that it was nice enough that she wondered where she had been and made sure that Luna hadn't disappeared all entirely but other than that Luna didn't really see herself becoming best friends with Mandy.

Eating the food that was provided to her, Luna sipped on some Pumpkin Juice as she watched some of the others around her wolfed down their food. She ate some chicken, along with some rolls and cranberry sauce. Down the table everyone could hear the loud chatter of Terry Boot telling something that he thought was important or funny enough that ended up making laughter.

Bringing her head up towards the teacher's table, Luna found that Professor Dumbledore was sitting in the middle like he always was and that he was conversing with Professor McGonagall. She rolled her eyes at something that he said—something that must have sounded like a joke that he tried to make but she didn't find it insanely funny.

Professor Flitwick was trying to have a good conversation with Professor Lockhart but he was too busy trying to gain attention of all the teachers so that he could continue telling his false adventures. Luna glared at him, knowing that he wasn't paying attention to her or the other students.

Having some pudding after she was done with her main food, Luna ate some pumpkin pie and then got up from her spot at the table when she saw that everyone was starting to get up so that they could leave and head towards their Common Rooms.

Luna shot one last look at the large Jack-o-Lanterns that were on the House tables and the different little details that were around the room—including the bats and the spider webs and then turned her attention towards the two large oak doors.

She only stopped when she was almost close to the doors by the sound of blood curling screaming. She straightened up and felt almost everyone stiffen in surprise, not knowing what had happened.

"ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE! YOU'LL BE NEXT, MUDBLOODS!"

There his voice was, Draco Malfoy, cackling off in the distance. Luna fought the urge to shiver from the racial slur as she heard the professors move everyone out of the way so that they could reach the people that had discovered what had been written.

Luna was cattle herded to go to her own Common Room and caught the sight of what it was that had caught everyone's attention. Mrs. Norris, Argus Filch's cat (Filch was the caretaker and had Mrs. Norris wandering and patrolling the halls with him so that they could find trouble makers), was hanging by a torch against the wall—all the while blood had been written on the wall:

**THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE**


	8. first match

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_07: _**_first match_

**The Quidditch first match **of Houses was Gryffindor against Slytherin. It was always this match that Luna could say would always be the one that everyone was looking for, well that and to some they dreaded the match. Luna had heard that the Quidditch team players would always try to get the other House's members injured so that they'd have to forfeit before the match would even take place.

She didn't hear this happening with the other Houses. It even got worse when Oliver Wood and Marcus Flint would battle it out. The tension was thicker than ever whenever they would have to walk past each other—they'd size each other up, give quick spiteful comments, and then continue on their way, knowing that they'd rather like to challenge each other truly out of the sight of the Heads of their Houses.

Luna woke up that morning to excitement buzzing in her Common Room from a couple of Quidditch enthusiasts in her House—including Cho Chang, who hadn't been on the team yet, due to them not having any of their players graduating Hogwarts or deciding to quit the team.

Dressed in a long sleeve light baby blue v-neck dress with clashing red leggings and a red scarf—and a gray toboggan that has a blue flower sewn into the cotton toboggan, Luna put her butterbeer cap necklace on at the last moment before she had put the scarf on. A simple pair of black boots finished off her look, allowing others to know that although she hadn't gotten completely into the spirit of Quidditch that at least they knew that she was supporting Gryffindor.

Sitting in the Common Room, near the fireplace, Luna hummed as she was sketching the pond back home in Ottery St. Catchpole. She had sent off her sketch to her daddy of the one with Professor Lockhart and the Videra Expera. She still hadn't received word from him but she wasn't worried—her daddy was sometimes forgetful and he would apologize profusely to her, which in return would make her reassure him that everything was all right.

Behind her, Cho Chang was sitting with some of her friends in one of the random lounging areas in the circular room—her sitting in a Victorian Era plushy pillowed chair that was a stunning silver, and was going on about the scores of the latest match between her favorite team and their rival.

Marietta Edgecombe wasn't that enthusiastic when it came to hearing her best friend recall every single play through that her team had. She looked as though she would rather talk about anything other than Quidditch.

Luna only looked up when she heard someone plop down on the other side of the Victorian loveseat that she was residing on. Mandy was smiling at her, her dark brown hair pulled up in a pretty braided bun. She wore little silver ball earrings that had long silver chains on them—along with a fuzzy white jumper, dark washed jeans, and tennis shoes. Her face had a little bit of makeup on it—just concealer, light pink lipstick, along with eyeliner.

"Hi, Luna, I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me during the match. Word of advice too, you don't sit near Cho Chang during matches. She gets way into it and takes away the fun. She's nice, but still." Mandy gave Luna another small smile and Luna nodded her head after a moment.

"Thank you, Mandy. I'll sit with you during the match. I too think that Cho Chang is too enthusiastic about Quidditch. I, myself, do not see anything appealing about Quidditch." Luna looked back down to her sketch and decided that she was going to just sketch it out with her simple pen and then use charcoal in the end.

"That's a lovely sketch too, Luna. I wish that I was talented like that. I couldn't draw to save my life," Mandy admitted, finding that Luna didn't smile or laugh but merely look up at her and look at her without blinking eyes.

"That would be a very interesting way to be tested on whether or not you would survive. I think that mine would be—"

"See, I told you that she's weird. Brocklehurst was just teasing her and she had to go and make some strange comment."

Luna and Mandy turned their heads, finding that one of Lisa Turpin's friends was scrunching her pale features together. There wasn't anything remarkable about this girl, she had average features. She could honestly be someone that could be looked over, nothing about her was special. The only thing that was different was the fact that she had a small dark birthmark on the side of her chin, other than that everything could be found in any other girl.

"I don't know why you guys have to be mean to her. She might look at things in a different perspective but that doesn't mean that you need to be bullies towards her perspective. There's nothing wrong with individuality." Mandy glared at the girl, not noticing that Luna had turned her head towards her sketch again and was continuing on making little details.

"Come on, Brocklehurst. She's not your responsibility. Besides, it's not like you're besties with her or anything. You're not that Weasley girl. So stop acting like you're her protective older sister or something," another girl remarked, earning another glare from Mandy—this one with intensity that made the girl look away, and enough that Luna looked up again.

"I'm no one's responsibility, but it is nice that you're concerned about me, Mandy. You have nothing to be worried about. They just want a strong reaction from me. I give them the pleasure of not giving them that reaction." Luna got up from her spot at the loveseat and went towards the direction of where the dorms were.

"Let me know when it's time to go to the match. I'm not very good at remembering when things are if they don't interest me. I think it has to do with the Balor Kylan's. They like to buzz around your head and are invisible even to me. They try to make you forgot about things that aren't important to you, or interest you."

Everyone paused what they were doing, whether it being telling others to be quiet so that they could study or having quiet conversations or just reading, showing Luna confused stares that let her know that they still thought that she was an odd one and that there weren't any Balor Kylan's that could make you forgot about things that you didn't care for.

Mandy did what Luna had requested her to do, knocking on the first years' dorm room and Luna walked out with her psychedelic crocheted satchel that completely clashed with her outfit but was truly a part of her. Mandy couldn't help but smile and inwardly shake her head at the fact that Luna truly didn't fit society's mold and that she was who she truly was meant to be—which was to be Luna Lovegood.

They walked out of the Ravenclaw Common Room and went down the spiral stone stairs to the corridor and then followed the crowd towards the Quidditch pitch so that they could watch the match of Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Luna knew that it was going to be harsh, that there probably was going to be vulgar words and slurs that weren't meant to be spoken and taunting and even though she didn't like any of it she was prepared to be greeted with that sight.

She wanted to sit with Ginny but as she looked around to see if she could find the red haired girl she didn't find her anywhere. She furled her features together; a spike of worry arrived and strengthened. Luna had hoped to see her but she had to reassure herself that if Ginny wasn't feeling good that she was in the infirmary and was taking a nap, having Madam Pomfrey watch over her.

Mandy motioned for Luna to follow her and Luna trailed behind her, not really paying attention to the strange looks that people gave her—bewildered to the sight of her wearing something that was insanely off putting. Then again when did Luna care what people thought of her? She might have a few moments where her insecurities appeared and that was a part of being human, but they were fleeting moments and she made sure that no one knew of them.

Luna climbed the groaning wooden stairs to the Ravenclaw stand and sat near the middle of the rows with Mandy. She sat her satchel down and didn't care that she had those around her with irritated auras—ones from being late to the match and were in the back so that they had to sit near her. They had already begun to try and separate themselves away from her, as though she was nothing more than a plague that had taken the form of an eleven year old girl.

"I have to admit that I'm kind of excited to see how Harry is going to do this year. Did you know that he actually swallowed the Snitch during the first match that he had? The only funny thing was that Malfoy was having a bitch fit at the fact that he couldn't be allowed to be the Seeker for Slytherin," Mandy laughed at the end, as though she was remembering how Draco Malfoy was acting like a little girl that didn't get what she wanted and went to her daddy to have everything fixed.

If he wasn't so proper she would have seen him stomping his foot but instead he had done the 'mature thing' and had his famous quote of, "my father is going to here about this!" which meant that he would whine to his dad and would end up having his dad try to fix everything, which hadn't been as successfully done as fast as he wanted to or as professional as he wanted.

Eventually the match began with Oliver Wood clasping hands with Marcus Flint even though the both of them looked at each other as though they would rather be doing anything other than touching hands.

Draco Malfoy was in the background, the Slytherin Seeker at last, and both Crabbe and Goyle were Beaters—ready to hit the Gryffindor's without having to be getting detention from mainly Professor McGonagall.

Harry Potter looked as though he couldn't stand the fact that Draco Malfoy had to be on the Slytherin team but he also looked like he couldn't wait to prove that he was the best and that Draco Malfoy should be pushed a little more off his pedestal and what better way than to beat him in the position of being the better Seeker?  
If iPhones were invented in the early nineties and could be used in Hogwarts then Luna Lovegood would have looking through her phone and going through social media at the moment.

Instead, she was observing the beginning of the match and how there was a strange tension that was emitting through the air. Even Luna could tell that there was something off, and she studied the air around the players.

When they saw a bludger being charmed and was chasing after Harry Potter, they knew that something was wrong. Luna stood with the others and watched as the round glasses boy tried to maneuver around the pitch and try to get the bludger to stop chasing after him.

Luna let her eyes wander over to the Slytherins, finding that they were all amused at the sight of the Golden Boy being the target of the bludger that wanted to attack him and make him injured or possibly killed. A few of them looked around their fellow House members and were asking each other if they were the brilliant person that had charmed the bludger but all of them shook their heads.

Then again, they wouldn't care in the end if it weren't a fellow Slytherin that charmed the bludger—as long as Harry Potter was knocked off his broom and out of commission and Slytherin won the match they couldn't care less than they already did—which was at zero percent.

Everything seemed to slow down when Crabbe hit a bludger towards Harry to hit him in the back. As soon as the bludger hit Harry, its intended target, Harry was falling and Luna gasped along with the others as he fell. Thankfully when he hit the ground he had been cushioned by charms and all of the professors and Hooch went towards Harry so that they could examine his wounds.

When Luna saw Professor Lockhart bending down and acting as though he knew what spell he could do to make the injuries go away all Luna could feel was anger and think:_ get away from him, you liar! _She was not someone that had anger that was this heated but the sight of Professor Lockhart saying that he knew a spell that he didn't and the Videra Expera's thicker than she had ever seen them made her feel a tight bundle of heated anger rise within her.

Watching the horror and pain that etched itself against Harry Potter's face only intensified the hatred that radiated in Luna. Next to her Mandy's eyes widened, she had never seen anger radiate from Luna Lovegood, she was always an emotionless and kind girl and seeing this hatred was unsettling.

"Luna, are you okay?"

Luna tore her attention away from the sight of Harry's arm becoming a limp noodle state and looked at Mandy, finding that the girl had true concern upon her features. "I cannot stand liars! Professor Lockhart is a liar and he claims that he knows everything! Look at what he did to Harry Potter. He didn't even do a right spell to make sure that Harry's arm was okay!"

Around them she had a few Ravenclaws hear what she was saying and they looked down to see the nervous expression of Gilderoy Lockhart as he stumbled over his words and Professor McGonagall glare at him as though she was seeing a cub of hers being skinned alive.

"I hate to say this, but Lovegood is right."

"Look at the state of Potter's arm! He _didn't _use the correct spell!"

Mandy had to say that she was surprised to hear the sound of other ravens agreeing with Luna. All she had heard were jabs and hurtful words from others that would have made her cry in her dorm to be honest.

She wondered if his reputation was tainted now in her House.

She also hoped that she would never see this kind of anger appear on Luna's face ever again.


	9. Colin Creevey

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_08:_**_ Colin Creevey _

** No one had **to tell Luna who Colin Creevey was.

The boy happened to be anywhere and everywhere it seemed like.

The little eager eleven year old always trailed after people and took photographs with excitement etched across his features. The brunet mainly followed after fellow upper years in the Gryffindor House.

He obviously wouldn't follow after the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs were probably fun when it came to getting honest opinions where he could fan girl over the amazing Harry Potter while eating snacks. Then there was the Ravenclaws, he sometimes went to them but not that much—especially since most of them gave him the stink eye when it came to seeing him walking over to them with his camera. They were studying and they didn't need an irritating first year asking them their opinions on going to the same school as Harry Potter and how amazing it was to breathe the same air as Harry Potter did and not to mention…Harry Potter.

The Slytherins liked to charm Colin to make sure that he would trip over his feet or they would try and find ways to charm his camera. He was fun to torment on—he basically begged them to bully him, especially since he didn't know how to keep quiet about his hero worshipping around the Slytherins.

Luna did look up at the sight of Colin Creevey sitting at the Gryffindor table across the Great Hall—looking sunken in and saddened that he had upset Harry. He was going to apologize to him due to his inappropriate picture that had taken shot when Harry had been injured in the mud with his messed up arm.

"Creevey looks like he's about to go drown himself in the Black Lake if he keeps looking so sullen."

Luna turned her head, finding that Padma Patil was sitting near her for once and the Indian girl had a piece of food in her hand that she was about to eat—her pretty Indian skin and pretty brown eyes caught on the sight of Colin Creevey off in the distance.

Padma Patil was the twin of Parvati Patil. Parvati was in Gryffindor, but the both of them were identical. Luna could say that she didn't really know much about the Indian twins but they seemed nice. Padma seemed to be the one that analyzed something a little longer than her sister but that could also be the reason why she had been sorted into Ravenclaw than Gryffindor like her sister.

"Didn't you see? He went down there and was taking pictures of Harry when he was in the mud. I would be pissed off too if that idiot Lockhart had messed up my arm even more and an annoying pest was trying to take pictures of me at an inappropriate time and wouldn't shut his bloody mouth."

Luna looked back down to her meal and continued to eat, as the others around her began to converse about how much they found Colin Creevey irritating and that they were glad that Harry Potter hadn't been sorted into Ravenclaw or otherwise they'd have to have that camera happy boy trailing around and trying to get into their Common Room so that he could take pictures of Harry in the Ravenclaw Common Room.

She didn't pay attention to the voices that sometimes were drifting towards the topic of her for some odd reason, which any reason to talk about Luna was odd but that was besides the point.

She finished eating before excusing herself, getting up from her spot at the Ravenclaw table Luna left the Great Hall despite the fact that she hadn't been formally excused by the headmaster.

Trailing down the corridors, Luna smiled at the portraits that called out to her; some of them were asking why she wasn't still in the Great Hall while others were just happy to have someone that could actually let them know that they were there and that they could hear them. Luna knew that she would be lonely too if she was a portrait and no one stopped to tell her hello.

Luna thought about going to the Gryffindor Common Room but she didn't know what the password was. Besides she would have rather had Ginny with her so that they both could sit on the comfy couches that were in the Common Room. She quite liked how it was comfortable in the Gryffindor Common Room, not that she had ever been in the Common Room, but there was only one Common Room that was the most comfy and that happened to be the Hufflepuffs.

Luna didn't have any friends that were in Hufflepuff. So she couldn't go down to the Common Room and sit in the yellow themed Common Room where every square inch was meant to be comfy living and feel like a summer home than anything else—like being one floor higher than the lake where the Slytherin Common Room was.

So instead Luna went back upstairs to her Common Room and sat down at the loveseat that faced automatically at the fireplace. She curled up and leant her head down against her pillow as she watched the warm flames flicker to and fro. They were little dancers made of burning gasoline that twirled in their own way and danced to their own rhythm that no one else could hear.

She closed her eyes and fixed how she was lying so that she was lying on her left side and her hair fell forward a little in front of her face. She took light breaths, her chest moving up and down and recording her breaths as she allowed the peacefulness and emptiness fill her.

She wanted to be up here so that she could be alone for once, and she didn't want to be around the other students where they would be asking her if she had a slight moment of sanity when it came to blurting out that Lockhart was a liar and that they shouldn't trust him.

"Luna, wake up!"

Luna blinked a few times and let her eyes open all the way before she rubbed away the crust that had acuminated in her tear ducts. She sat upright and found that Mandy Brocklehurst was standing in front of her, no crouched in front of her—with the slight gaze of Padma in the background.

"Hello, Mandy. How was the pudding tonight? I wasn't in the mood for it," Luna admitted, earning a bewildered look from Mandy before she shook her head and crouched down even more so that she was sitting somewhat on the carpeted flooring.

"Pudding was all right, Luna. I heard that there was another attack and I was afraid that something had happened to you. The portraits told us."

Luna turned her head around, finding that there were more students that were in the Common Room than she thought. If she was more naïve she would have thought that they were all concerned about her. Instead she knew that they just wanted to see if she was alive or not.

"Oh no, I just wanted a nap. I'm happy that you listened to the portraits though, they get quite lonely since no one really talks to them."

If Luna was anyone else she would have felt saddened at the fact that they were only interested in coming up here to see if she was the latest victim but she didn't. They weren't her friends, she knew that they would feel maybe a little bit of guilt but relief would wash over them and depending on how they truly were they could either let one swallow the other emotion whole.

Luna got up from her spot on the loveseat and smoothed down her clothes before she began to head towards where her dorm was. Behind her she could hear the rustling of people that let her know that everyone was starting to get settled in for the night. She didn't care to be in the Common Room anymore—reading a book or doing anything really, because she knew that she wouldn't be able to feel that peacefulness that she had felt before she had fallen asleep.

The next day, Luna found out with the others that the second victim happened to be Colin Creevey. She could hear a couple of the Ravenclaws muttering about how being too curious was going to be the death of Colin Creevey. He would do something that he wasn't prepared for—both mentally and physically.

"Luna, are you okay?"

Luna blinked a few times, surprised to find that Cho Chang had actually taken a spot that was a few seats down from her. Usually the oriental girl sat further down the table with her friends but for some reason she had moved closer to Luna and she craned her head to the side.

"Oh, I'm fine, Cho. Thank you for asking though." Luna reached down and picked up her fork so that she could stab a sausage from her plate. She looked back up to find that Cho Chang studied her for a second before she nodded her head, as though she was telling herself that Luna was really okay.

"Did you know Colin Creevey?" she probed towards the light blonde haired girl, earning a no from said blonde. Cho Chang allowed her eyes to peer at the Gryffindor table, finding that everyone at the table was stiffened and confused as though they wanted to know what was wrong, especially since the first human victim happened to be Gryffindor.

Everything would go to hell if the next victim ended up being another Gryffindor. Both Ravenclaws knew that tensions would increase between Gryffindor and Slytherin since the Gryffindor's knew that this must have some connection with the house of Salazar Slytherin.

Luna finished her breakfast before she got up from her spot at the table and left, waiting in the hall so that she could see Ginny once she left the Great Hall. She had wanted to check up on her and see how she was.

She was happy that the second victim didn't happen to be Ginny. She would have been devastated if she had lost her only true friend. Sure she wouldn't be dead, since Mrs. Norris wasn't dead but was petrified.

People left the Great Hall, a few of them glancing over at Luna before dismissing her, whispering the words _Loony Lovegood _and how she wasn't the one who had been a victim since she had all types of creatures follow her that could supposedly protect and ward off the creature.

She kept her hands tightened around the leather strap of her satchel as she waited for Ginny, her eyes trained forward.

When Ginny finally left the Great Hall, Luna smiled and waved at her—earning Ginny to smile at her weakly before she made her way towards Luna. She motioned for Neville Longbottom to go on, telling him that everything was going to be all right and that he shouldn't be worried about her.

Reaching her, Ginny wrapped her arms around Luna suddenly, causing Luna to widen her eyes before she pulled away some. "I'm so happy that it wasn't you, Luna. When I heard that there was another attack I was scared that whatever it is that is out there happened to have snatched you too."

Luna smiled softly at her, "oh, no. I was taking a nap, I was tired last night. I wasn't in the mood to be in the company of others. All the creatures around me kind of make me exhausted sometimes. I have to admit that I am not surprised that it was Colin Creevey that ended up being the second victim."

"He followed after Harry all the time, would try to take pictures with him. He got a picture of him with Professor Lockhart and Harry. He got Professor Lockhart to sign it but Harry wouldn't do anything with the photo. I think that he hates him."

"I hate him too. I don't trust anyone with Videra Expera's around them. Only those who are complete liars and spill no truths have them surrounding them," Luna informed the red haired girl.

"Mum loves him. She has so many books of the man at home. When she found out that he was going to be teaching here she was excited," Ginny admitted, her face showing sourness at the remembrance of her mum squealing like a teenage girl when she had found out that Gildeory Lockhart was going to be teaching at Hogwarts.

Luna started walking with Ginny next to her; neither of them paying attention to clustered group of Gryffindor's that was passing by them. They ignored the sounds of some of the Gryffindor's asking Ginny why she was hanging out with the loon.

Ginny would turn her head to the side every time that they would call Luna a loon and she'd glare at them—the trademark female Weasley glare that would make people have their knees quiver and they'd apologize profusely before they'd run away.

"Do you want to come up to my Common Room this evening? It would be nice to hang out with you." Luna waited for the response to her offer, earning a sigh from Ginny before she looked off to the side.

"I can't. Percy and Fred and George and Ron say that I need to stay around the Gryffindor's so that they can protect me. They're afraid that something is going to happen to me. As soon as this…whatever it is…is over then I will come over to the Ravenclaw Tower and hang out with you, okay?"

Luna nodded her head, her eyes flickering away from the guilty look upon her best friend's face—only for Ginny to be knocked into by a wandering Slytherin—making her own satchel swing forward and her black journal to go out and skittle off on the stone floor.

Luna suddenly felt sickened to her stomach and took deep breaths, reminding herself to breathe as the vibrant dark aura around her sunk itself into her. She opened her satchel and began to dig around before she found her protection stone—holding it to her chest Luna felt the darkness around her be yanked back so that there would be a foot of protection all around her.

"I—I thought that you got rid of that, Ginny." Luna watched as Ginny plucked the journal up from the ground and turned her head towards Luna, seeing that the girl looked paler than she normally did. Her hands were shaking even though she was holding her protection stone.

"I was going to but I decided not to. Sometimes I just need to vent my feelings out and it makes me feel—" Ginny stopped, as though someone had just interrupted her and clamped her mouth shut. She stuffed the journal back into her satchel and looked away, "I have to go, Luna. I don't want my brothers to be worried."

Luna didn't have time to say anything before the red haired girl disappeared around the corner with a strong aura of darkness clinging itself to her, leaving Luna standing there holding a protection stone that was warding off that very aura.


	10. Parseltongue

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_09:_**_ Parseltongue _

**Everyone was anticipating **the Dueling Club. Most of all they were anticipating the moment that they were greeted with Gryffindor and Slytherin dueling each other. They wanted to see who would have the more victorious competitors, though they knew that Slytherin was known for playing dirty.

Luna wouldn't be able to be in the classroom and watch the actual dueling, mainly because first years weren't allowed to duel. Professor Dumbledore had strictly said that none of the first years should actually duel, so those who were second year and up were the ones that would stand on that stage and turn their backs on each other before they would begin casting spells at each other.

The first year Ravenclaw was sitting on a window ledge—looking out at the campus around her and in the distance she could see Hagrid near his hut with his dog, Fang, following him. She thought that he was interesting, but Luna found that she didn't really care for the half giant.

It was cold though, insanely cold, but that must have been due to the fact that it was almost Christmas and she would be going back home so that she could be with her daddy during the holidays. She found no reason to stay, that and she knew that it was just her and her daddy now. They needed each other—he **_depended_** on her, had depended on her ever since her mum had died.

Xenophilius would be lost without his daughter; if she died he would truly wither away and possibly commit suicide.

"Luna, did you hear?"

Luna turned her head, finding that Mandy Brocklehurst was jogging towards her—her dark hair flying around as her eyes showed shock and a little bit of fear deep within them. Luna sat upright and she turned her head to the side, almost like a curious cat that was checking out the area around it to make sure that it could know where it was and who was around it.

"No, I've just been sitting here and admiring the grounds. It is a quite lovely—"

"I'm certain that the grounds are lovely but that's not important right now! Harry Potter is a Parseltongue! He can talk to snakes! Apparently Malfoy shot a snake towards Harry and Harry reacted to the snake when it went to attack Justin Finch-Fletchley! Now everyone is thinking that he's the heir of Slytherin!"

"I think it would be nice to be able to communicate with snakes, I'm certain that they would get lonely just as much as us," Luna idly commented, her eyes having that far away appearance.

"Luna, this is serious! You-Know-Who could talk to snakes too! And so did Salazar Slytherin! Two of the Wizarding World's most dangerous and dark wizards ever share the same ability as Harry Potter!" Mandy hysterically waved her hands around, only for Luna to straighten her back and look up at Mandy.

"Just because Harry Potter can talk to snakes doesn't mean that he's just like them, Mandy. If I could talk to snakes would you think less of me?" Luna patiently waited for the dark haired girl's answer, her hands folded together in front of her and her eyes soft but focused.

Mandy frowned and sat down next to Luna, "I don't know, Luna. I mean you are kind of odd but I know that you're not bad. I…"

Luna nodded her head, "I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet, Mandy. Most rumors are just that, _rumors_. I heard that he was raised by his Muggle relatives but I haven't heard of him torturing them. Salazar Slytherin and You-Know-Who are two completely different wizards than Harry Potter."

Mandy blinked a few times, "you sound just like Professor Dumbledore."

Luna smiled, "I take that as a compliment. Professor Dumbledore is a very accomplished wizard who saved the world from a dark wizard, and he is a well respected wizard too."

_Not to mention that he's kind of nutty too_—Mandy thought to herself, as Luna turned towards the window when they saw the flickering sight of snow starting to fall from the milky gray sky above them.

"I love winter; although Gulping Plimpies are very tasty it makes me feel better that Daddy won't be tempted to catch any in this weather." Luna observed how the trees quivered and shook from the wind, the Forbidden Forest was as cold and gloomy as the partly frozen depths of the Black Lake.

"I do look forward to spring, though. I can't wait to see the Giant Squid, I'm certain that he's quite lonely." Luna turned her head towards Mandy, finding that the girl was still sitting next to her and was silently watching her—taking mental notes of the eleven year old.

"Are…are you okay, Luna?"

"I am, thank you for asking Mandy, now if you don't mind—I'd like to keep watching the snow. It always makes me feel better." Luna turned her head back towards the window, not knowing that Mandy frowned and that she had a sort of clench in her heart at the fact that she was being pushed away from the odd girl.

Luna sat there for the next hour, watching the snow, and still absorbing the information that Mandy had given her. She thought for a moment—wondering if Harry Potter really was the heir of Slytherin. She knew that he could speak to snakes and that it was rare, most prominent in only pureblood bloodlines and she also knew that for as long as she could recall none of her family had come across the Potters in the past where they could find out that a member was a Parseltongue.

Eventually, Luna got up and went into her Common Room—discovering that most of the Ravenclaws around her were siding with the Slytherins and they were having debates with those who were on Luna's side…weary but not as open to the possibility of Harry Potter being a heir of Salazar Slytherin.

"What about you, Lovegood? What do you think?"

Luna blinked away her wandering gaze and turned her head, finding that Padma was standing off to the side and was looking at her—expecting her to side with her, which as Luna could barely recall must have been against Harry Potter.

"What are you doing, Padma? Don't you know that she's a loon? It doesn't matter what she thinks, because chances are she's not going to even give an answer that is even for the topic."

That was Terry Boot—who was scowling at the Indian girl. Said Indian girl was not amused at the sneering that he had done, or the fact that he was hissing at her. "Do not tell me what I should do."

"I…I don't know. I don't think he is." Luna found that some of the Ravenclaws were craning their heads to the side; these were the ones that weren't decided while the ones that probably couldn't stand Harry Potter to begin with were angry with her deciding to think that he possibly couldn't be the heir of Slytherin.

Justin Finch-Fletchley was one that if the scenario caused a strong reaction from him then at the moment he reacted and blocked every other emotion away so that he could focus all entirely on that one emotion. So him calling Harry a freak wasn't as surprising as one would think—despite the fact that Justin was a Hufflepuff, which still didn't surprise Luna since Hufflepuffs were known for being emotional but they were also the most accepting…

"Too bad the snake didn't bite Potter instead."

Luna didn't know who it was that had said this, mainly because she didn't care to hear negative remarks about other people. It still made her feel an annoyance come and go at the fact that someone who probably didn't even know Harry Potter would rather Harry Potter be bit by a snake than anything else.

She decided that she didn't want to stay in here anymore, so she went into her dorm room and went over to where her chest was that held her constellation suitcase. She began to rummage through her case and found her journal. She usually kept it in her suitcase; she had heard whispers of those around her that wanted to steal some of her things so she'd go on a wild goose chase in order to find the items the day before they would leave Hogwarts during the holidays.

Getting up from her crouched position, Luna hopped up on her bed and opened the journal and flipped to the first empty page that it provided her. She wrote about what had happened with Harry, and how she didn't know how to feel about him possibly being the heir of Slytherin and how she just wanted to be home for once so that she could be with her daddy and they could go and do whatever they wanted.

She often became lonely without her daddy but she didn't want anyone to know of her loneliness. Ginny knew of it but she wasn't helping, every time that Luna sought her out she was either passed out in the infirmary or she would be in her Common Room about to fall over and go to sleep if she hadn't done so already.

She only looked up when she heard a knock on the dorm door, "You can come in." Luna didn't care who it was, as long as they didn't bring in any negativity then she was fine with them entering the dorm.

The door opened and Luna found that it was Marietta Edgecombe that was loaming in the doorway. She studied Luna for a second and then, "I don't know what your whole weirdo deal is but I think it would be best if you don't try to involve yourself in Cho and me and the rest of my friends. Cho is nice but I don't think that you need to try and seek out a friendship with her, she's too nice and naïve sometimes when it involves those in our House but still…"

Luna had to admit that she wasn't that entirely surprised when she had the curly haired girl standing in front of her with her judgmental eyes. She probably was waiting for the right opportunity to seek out Luna when the others were too busy being submerged by another thing all entirely.

"Cho is nice, nicer than most in our House. I can see why you are protective of her and you are her friend, but I think that it's Cho's decision whether or not if she wants to seek out a friendship with me. She has not, and if you want to be a true friend then you should be supportive of her friends if they mean no harm towards her."

Marietta blinked a few times, having not expected such a straight-to-the-point response from Luna to her. Well that and she couldn't believe that Luna would point out that she wouldn't be a good friend if she denied a friendship between her best friend and the loon of the school.

"We'll see about that." Marietta spun on her heels and shut the door behind her, leaving only the first year and taking away the third year that had been loaming in her doorway.

Looking back down at her journal, Luna continued writing and ignoring the conversations that were floating underneath the crack of the door that let her know that people were still not knowing how to take the event that had happened today, they were too busy over analyzing every little detail that had gone down when it came to the snake incident.

Luna on the other hand didn't find any evidence that would pertain to Harry Potter being the heir of Slytherin. There were warning signs when it came to You-Know-Who though, but Harry Potter had yet to have any warning signs that would make people automatically know that he was evil. Just because he could talk to snakes that made him evil?

Luna shook her head, before she finished writing out her entry in her journal and closed it—ready for her to go to bed. She had enough of what had happened today, and all she wanted was some rest.

She found though that she was greeted with even more fear in the voices of those around her the next day, everyone was creating a barrier between themselves and Harry Potter. Even some of his own House members were distancing themselves from him—the thought of him being related to the founder of the Slytherin House would make them automatically hate him.

Luna inwardly shook her head at the idiocy that surrounded her, and brought her hand up so that she could brush her fingers against her worn out Dirigible plum earrings—they were meant to enhance your awareness to accept the extraordinary, and at the moment she wanted nothing more than to be able to see if she could find any creatures around people that would make her worried for their safety.

All she saw though were Nargles and Videra Expera's that were hovering over most of the Slytherins, along with Oregic Oppera's that were hovering near messenger bags that had sweets hidden in secret pockets. She didn't see any creatures that would make her frightened—they were the normal 'odd' creatures that she had always seen since she was a little girl.

"Luna!"

Luna turned her head, finding that Ginny was rushing towards her and that she was trying to catch her breath. "I—I hadn't expected to see you in the hall before breakfast. I thought that you'd already be there."

"Oh no, I decided to just enjoy my stroll today. I wanted to make sure that I didn't see anything out of the ordinary when it comes to the creatures. I see just Nargles and Videra Expera's and Oregic Oppera's, and they're always around." Luna glanced up at the sight of a Videra Expera that floated near, the wings beating rapidly as it peered at her with its large eyes.

She smiled up at it and brought her hand up so that her pointer finger was in its direction. The Videra Expera slowly moved towards her and dropped onto her pointer finger, and she smiled some when she could see the details.

It didn't linger for long, it sat there for only one second before it drifted off to find its host. When she looked up she found that almost the entire hall had paused and they were staring at her agape features.

For that one moment Luna found not only that she was in nirvana at the close contact with the Videra Expera but also that she had accomplished something that she hadn't expected she wanted: to have the judgmental comments around her that were about Harry Potter transition to her because all her life she had been judged for being insane but Harry Potter had yet to do something horrible in her eyes.


	11. twice more

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_10:_**_ twice more_

** Things only got **progressively worse for Harry Potter. Luna could tell that he thought that the whole school was against him—everyone was starting to think that he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin and the only people that truly believed him were his only close friends—of which were Hermione Granger and Ronald "Ron" Weasley. There was also Neville Longbottom but the "Golden Trio" as they were lovingly referred to, stuck together and dealt with Harry's reputation together.

Luna still hadn't found anything that could determine that Harry Potter was really Salazar Slytherin's heir. Potters were rarely known to be in Slytherin, most of the Potters happened to be in Gryffindor and sometimes they were in Ravenclaw, along with Hufflepuff but none of them were prominent in Slytherin.

One might wonder what that had to do with anything, but it had to do with everything, if he was the one true descendant of Salazar Slytherin then his blood and heritage would be burnt into his skull and his family would be prominent in Slytherin—it would have been the House that his family prospered in.

Tapping her quill against the parchment that was in front of her, Luna frowned as she tried to see if there was anything that would put him in the clear, not only that but she still was trying to see if she could get Ginny's journal but she couldn't. She had tried sneaking into the Common Room to grab it and every time that she had managed to get into the Common Room Ginny was there before Luna could really head up to where the girls' dorms were.

"Miss Lovegood, please refrain from producing that vexatious noise. There might be others that are finished with their test but that doesn't mean that you should produce that obnoxious tapping," drawled Professor Snape, as he looked at her from behind his desk—his dark beady irises catching her light bluish gray ones, she did not look scared nor did she look embarrassed.

Luna sat the quill down onto the desk and didn't turn her head towards the Hufflepuff that was struggling with their test. Most of the Ravenclaws were done but others were double, even triple checking their answers to make sure that they answered everything as accurately as possible.

She waited until after class to watch everyone else get up from their spots and head towards the dungeon classroom's door. Then she slowly got up and made her way towards Professor Snape—her earrings swaying to and fro and her crotched satchel still as much as an eye sore as before.

"Professor Snape, may I speak to you, please?" Luna hovered in front of the desk and she noticed that Professor Snape had his head turned away from her. He was obviously trying to ignore her and hoping that would make her go away.

"What could you want to speak to me about? I know your scores, Miss Lovegood. You are an excellent potion student. Not as remarkable as some I know but still excellent." Professor Snape turned his head, his prominently crooked nose, shallow cheekbones and oily shoulder length black hair would make anyone look at him with disgust but all Luna could see was sadness in his aura.

True, Severus Snape was an angry person, but being angry didn't justify what he did to students or how he behaved. The loss of someone that he loved, Luna could speculate, could make him harden himself so that he could never get that attached to a person and eventually love them only for them to be lost in the end.

"You are the Head of Slytherin, Professor. I wanted to ask you if any of the Potters have been in the Slytherin House. I have heard rumors that Harry Potter might—"

"I did not expect you to be so childish and immature or stupid enough to believe in these rumors, Miss Lovegood. Harry Potter is _not _the heir of Slytherin and there have only been three Potters that have been in Slytherin and even then they were not as proud to be in my House as they should have been."

"I don't believe in the rumors, professor. I just wondered what impute you had, yourself. Thank you for answering my question." Luna looked down at her satchel and opened it before she began to dig around—finding in the corner of her eye that Professor Snape was about to start telling her to get out of his classroom but she managed to find what she was looking for and she pulled it out before she sat it down.

Sitting on the professor's desk was herbs that could help deter depression from worsening but it didn't work for everyone—she could only hope that it could at least help Professor Snape some.

"I wanted to give you some St. John's Wort and Ginseng, they help with depression. I just want you to feel better, professor." Luna shot him a soft smile and Professor Snape peered down at the herbals in surprise—not knowing how to respond to the fact that one of his students was worrying about his mental health.

"I'll see you later, professor. Let me know if they work, and I'll get some more."

Luna spun on her heels before she made her way out of the classroom and back into the dungeon corridor that the classroom was connected to. Slytherins moved easily and freely throughout the corridors, this was where they felt the most at home. Especially when it came to picking on other Houses because Professor Snape only cared about his snakes and no one else's Houses.

She could tell that the Slytherins were hopping on the back of their heels, ready for them to be greeted with one if not all of the members in the Golden Trio—especially Harry Potter. They also were waiting for them to see any Gryffindor's so that they could start a fight with them.

Luna ignored the ones that had paused and looked at her before they began to taunt her—because she knew that by now it was all white noise to her. She had been here three months and she already knew all the taunts that were from the Slytherins. They always waited for the times that she would do something odd and they could add that to the reasons why one should not go anywhere near Loony Lovegood.

Behind her a certain light blond haired boy had paused in his swaggering walk, his eyes catching on her as he zeroed in on the fact that she was strong—stronger than he thought that she was. Everyone that he knew had always been torn down and stayed down when it came to his bullying, but Luna was different.

Yes, Luna Lovegood was _different_, his own parents had warned him about the oddity that the Lovegoods were known for but still he thought that she was weak enough that he could tear her down limb by limb through verbal abuse and he wouldn't have to deal with the weirdness that surrounded her.

Luna on the other hand, she did not glance back to see his hardened silver irises. She could always tell when it was him that was looking at her—peering at her, and silently making critiques about her.

She knew that talking about any of the other pureblood families in the Wizarding World was something that her parents never had cared to subject themselves in. They might have been in the same social class as them—they might have just magic blood in them but that didn't mean that her family felt as though they could go and truly interact with other families through cocktail parties or social events that were for charity events but really about much money families flaunted for the charities—as though they were trying to show that they came from the best family because they gave the most money to the charities but they didn't care either way about who received help because of the charities.

"Hey look, Loony is being her usual self. Wonder what stupid creature she claims she sees now, no wait, we shouldn't give her the opportunity to talk to us."

Luna blinked away her wandering thoughts and turned away from the sight of the few Gryffindor's that were off to the side—against the stone wall as they gazed at her as though she was some extinct animal that shouldn't even exist but still managed to thrive even when someone thought that people like her didn't exist anymore—or maybe, they never thought that people like her existed anyway, so they thought that she was …gone…lost.

The rest of the day went by the same way, Luna was surrounded those who would continue to make comments about her being quiet and that she had brought this on herself and that if she stopped being weird then maybe, if they were kind enough, they would accept her again…or at least let her around them more.

So when the last class of the day ended, Luna went towards the campus grounds so that she could walk around without having to have the people around her stopping her because they wanted to confront her. She already felt the eyes of Draco Malfoy following her whenever they were in proximity of each other where he could see her.

Finding a random patch of snow that was smoother than the rest—near the lake, Luna reached into her purse and found a quilt that she had made three years ago with her mum. It had silver thread that had part of a unicorn hair intertwined with the normal silver cotton thread. It was navy blue with stitches of stars in them—Luna really did love astronomy after all, and so her mum had given her the idea of making a quilt that would have stars on them so she would carry the night sky with her whenever she needed warmth in the cold.

She had learnt the spell to expand her purse from Mrs. Weasley out of anyone that she could learn it from. She had confined to Luna shortly after her mum had died and taught her the spell so that she could carry all that she wanted around with her and she wouldn't have to worry about leaving something behind.

"Luna, what are you doing out here?"

Luna glanced behind her, finding Ginny standing near her with her arms wrapped around her and that she was shivering head to toe. She found that it was strange that her best friend was sitting in the Scottish winter weather on a quilt when it was still snowing heavily. Yet here she was, sitting there and looking perfectly at peace with the coldness around her.

"People were talking about me all day, it gets tiring. I like to be away from the school sometimes, why don't you join me?" Luna tried to hide her excitement but it was still there when she offered Ginny to sit down with her.

Ginny on the other hand didn't look that excited at the aspect of sitting in the cold on a quilt while it snowed. Instead she lightly shook her head, "I-I'm sorry, Luna but I…it's too cold."

Luna frowned and then nodded her head, "I understand, Ginny. I'll see you later then." Luna turned back towards the lake where she could see the sheets of ice drifting against the dark water—most of the lake had been formed with ice and a few inches of it had thin layers that barely made a barrier from the outside world to the inner depths and inner workings of the lake.

Grabbing her homework out, Luna hummed as she began to work on her homework while it continued to snow around her. She didn't expect to hear crunching behind her or—"Miss Lovegood! What are you doing out here? It is freezing cold! Come inside, immediately and go to Madam Pomfrey! I don't want you getting a cold!"

Luna craned her head back and found that Professor McGonagall was rushing towards her with her boots crunching the snow underneath them. Her dark emerald robes and black witch pointed hat were stark contrasts against the whiteness.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall. I wanted to get away from everyone, so I came out here so I could do my homework. I'm used to the cold, but it is nice of you to wonder about my health. I'll go to Madam Pomfrey, just to reassure you that I'm fine." Luna gathered her things together and stood up from her spot before she followed Professor McGonagall as she worried about the girl—she was in between hysteria and complete bewilderment at what she had saw.

Professor McGonagall didn't allow Luna the chance to wander somewhere else; instead she walked Luna up to Madam Pomfrey and explained what Luna had been up to. Getting a scolding from the medi-witch for being out there and possibly getting hyperthermia, Luna was ushered to leave.

Going back upstairs, Luna found that not many of her House mates even looked up when she entered the Common Room. She sat down on the loveseat and pulled off her satchel before she looked through it and pulled out a novel that she had found that had all of the constellations in it that could move on their own.

She was so caught up on her book that she hadn't heard the rapid footsteps heading up the stairs or the second year that was explaining that there was another attack—but not only that, there were two victims this time.

She only looked up when she heard that Headless Nick was one of the victims, finding that it was peculiar because of the fact that he was a ghost. Then there was Justin Finch-Fletchley, Luna could only guess that the Hufflepuff had been on his way to apologize to Harry for acting like an arse.

"Harry Potter needs to be expelled! I know that he's behind this and now two innocent people…well a Hufflepuff and a ghost are victims now! For all we know we'll all be petrified before Christmas!"

Luna merely stared at the student, as they paced back and forth—throwing their arms up in the air as they showed their true anguish at the thought of being petrified like Mrs. Norris, along with Headless Nick and Justin.

Closing her novel, Luna knew this time that she shouldn't say anything, especially since she had evidence from Professor Snape that let her know that none of the Potters exhibited pro-purity blood thoughts or beliefs. Only three of Harry Potter's ancestors even graced the Slytherin Common Room.

In the background, Luna could see that most of the first years were terrified at the thought of them being victims. She could only hope that the true heir of Slytherin would be found by the end of the school year—she knew in her heart though that the heir wouldn't be found by Christmas.

If the heir could avoid detection so far, then that meant that they were smarter than anyone could give credit for.


	12. Christmas

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_11:_**_ Christmas_

** Before they could **be greeted with another attack, Luna found herself sitting on the Hogwarts Express excited to see her daddy. She knew that Ginny had stayed with her brothers at Hogwarts and although a part of her was sad at the thought of her leaving her best friend behind she knew that she wouldn't be alone though—she'd have Percy and George and Fred and Ron and even Harry Potter, who she knew was already a part of the Weasley clan. Molly and Arthur Weasley had already proclaimed him as another son of theirs.

She was wearing a yellow cotton jumper, navy blue skirt, along with orange and pink striped leggings and a pair of black boots—the only mundane color and piece of ensemble. Her hair was pulled up in a curly bun and she wore her trademark earrings, her worn out butterbeer cap necklace sat nestled above her jumper and she tapped her fingers against her skirt as she waited impatiently for her to be greeted with her daddy again—she had missed him quite a lot.

She opened her constellation suitcase and brought out her quilt before she threw it over her and leant against the cool wall of the train that had the window on it. She had her wand tucked behind her ear and she looked strange sprawled out on her bench as though she was going to make herself home in the compartment.

Neville Longbottom was sprawled out on the other bench within the compartment. He was passed out—Trevor sat on his stomach and he peered at her with his black eyes—studying her and finding that she was still that nice blonde girl that his owner liked.

Luna closed her eyes and just lay there, hearing the sound of the train on the tracks and the conversations that were spilling throughout the aisles of the train. Her compartment door was slightly cracked so that it wasn't completely closed off. She didn't have anyone to really talk to and she didn't expect the need to shut the compartment door so that she could converse with Neville.

It might also have to do with the fact that Draco Malfoy was staying at Hogwarts for the holidays and the rest of the Slytherins that were in his year or trailed after him like the little faithful followers they were didn't have him with them. So most of them didn't feel the need to walk around the aisles and open doors and taunt those around them—making the self esteems of those around them deteriorate.

The rest of the ride to King's Cross was spent with Luna taking a small nap while Neville was completely passed out. Luna had no doubt in her mind that all that had happened throughout the three months of his second year had tired him out completely. His Gran probably wouldn't let him out of the house to even walk around the estate or get fresh air from a window that he could crack open.

When they reached the train station Luna gathered her things and woke Neville up. The boy groaned and almost fell off the bench before he got up and kept Trevor in his hands despite the fact that the toad didn't appreciate being picked up and held so tightly. Neville apparently hadn't noticed until Trevor gave a noise of protest, which in return made Neville profusely apologize to his toad.

"Have a good Christmas, and stay away from mistletoe, Neville. Nargles like to colonize in them." Luna waved goodbye to them before she drifted down the aisle and towards one of the exits.

Luna spotted her daddy off in the distance. He was wearing fuchsia colored robes and his own butterbeer cap necklace that Luna had made for him. She was happy that he was smart and that he was wearing it, she didn't want to deal with any Nargles trying to follow them home but ending up in The Burrow because of the fact that Lovegoods didn't have mistletoe in their house or on their property.

As students were reunited with their parents and family members, Luna reached her daddy and hugged him before she pulled away from him, "Hi, Daddy! I'm happy to see you! I'm also happy that there are no Nargles around you either."

"I'm happy to see you too, darling. I made sure to keep mistletoe away, so we'll be fine at the house. Speaking of home, are you ready to go?" Xenophilius probed to his daughter, earning a nod from her. They hooked arms together and her daddy apparated the both of them to their house—right in front of where the picket fence and the gate was at—fresh snow glistened on the landscape and Luna felt warmth wash through her at the beauty that nature had gifted her with.

"How has the Quibbler been doing, Daddy? I'm sorry that I've not been able to write to you lately, I've been busy," Luna admitted, seeing in the corner of her eye that her daddy stiffened when it came to the mentioning of school. She had received countless letters from him since the first attack that pleaded for her to come home but she had told him that everything was going to be okay.

"Nothing has really changed, it's having the same sales as before. It's not like _The Daily Prophet_ but I am glad that we haven't lost any of our customers to it." Xenophilius frowned at the thought of The Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter—the journalist that worked at the said newspaper.

Both of them couldn't stand the glamorous older woman with blonde ringlet curls that were always pulled up in a stylish bun and those ridiculous lime green reading glasses that were perched on her nose. She always wore stylish robes and had her hovering writing pad with the quill hovering near her and the writing pad—ready to take notes for her as she asked questions that could make someone either eager to answer or want to throat punch her.

Luna and her daddy weren't violent people, they didn't like violence. She did know though that if her daddy was violent he probably would have already thrown a chair or something at the woman if she thought to test him.

"Yes, that's nice. I would rather hate to have us lose so many customers right around Christmas, especially since they won't have articles on how to ward Nargles away." Luna gave an amused smile to her daddy, before she hooked her arm around his and picked up her suitcase.

They both strolled up to the front door—her light blonde hair moving softly despite her having a bun, and her daddy's hair was blowing because of the fact that it was loose and fell to his shoulders. His withering features held a lot of pain, but also love towards his daughter.

Entering the house, Luna went upstairs and sat her suitcase on her bed, her eyes scanning the room and finding that it was exactly the way that she had left it. She couldn't wait until summer so that she could come home and work on a mural that was off to the side—she would paint the walls white when she was ready to create something new.

Walking up to her window that was facing the creek, Luna sat down on the window seat and peered out at the snow that was cascading down from the gray, mundane skyline that was drained of color but still held its own aliveness.

Luna smiled as she leant against the wall behind her and just peered out at the skyline, feeling at home in the cozy Nargle free house. She didn't have to have judgmental eyes following her around in her home—and having two weeks off from school made her feel better. She couldn't wait till Christmas—where she would give her daddy his Christmas present. She had no idea what his present he had for her was—she never really asked him for anything, she just found herself getting things from him that reminded him of the creatures that she saw but he never did.

Luna spent most of her time in the living room with her daddy, the both of them drinking their favorite tea and talking about anything and everything that had to do with their family before her mum died. They liked to talk about the times where her mum would find presents that her husband and daughter had planned for each other and her telling them to be careful or to find something else to give each other.

It wasn't until it was Christmas day that Luna woke up and headed down the spiral staircase to the ground floor of the house. She was wearing a red jumper and green pajama pants. Her hair was frizzier than normal and her face was devoid of the light amount of makeup that she put on.

Going over to the fridge, Luna began to pull out eggs and bacon and toast so that she could make breakfast for her and her daddy. She did make breakfast sometimes but her daddy had claimed that it would be best if he cooked for the both of them. She only did it though when she knew that he needed to sleep in more or if she was in the mood to do so before he woke up.

Luna hummed as she made breakfast—the snow outside still cascading as beautiful as before. She didn't think about how things were at school. She didn't think about the attacks that happened. She knew that today was a happy day, it was Christmas and her daddy would get a present and she would get one and then they'd snuggle on the couch and just lay there together while the fireplace in front of them would flicker with warmth from the lit logs.

It wasn't until she was putting the food onto her decorative painted plates that she heard her daddy coming down the stairs in his bright blue robe that covered his strange patterned clothes that were charmed to be the two main colors that your strongest emotions were at the moment.

"Good morning, Daddy, and Merry Christmas!" Luna picked up the warm plates and sat them at the kitchen table before she grabbed the utensils and the Gurdyroot tea that she had made. She sat them onto the table and sat down with her daddy sitting across from her—both of their light hair glistening from the cool sunlight that shimmered in from the large window.

"You didn't have to make me breakfast, my Luna. I could have made it." Xenophilius picked up his fork and began to stab the eggs so that he could eat.

"It's no problem, Daddy! I love cooking for you." Luna picked up a strip of bacon and began to chew on it—her eyes flickering down to the surface of her tea. She had been so happy to drink it once more, she had missed Gurdyroot tea.

"I must admit though that I am quite sad that I won't have any Gurdyroot tea with me when I go back to Hogwarts." Luna noted that her daddy stiffened some at the mention of Hogwarts but as he drank more than he should—almost chugging down the tea so that he couldn't talk, Luna sighed and frowned at him.

They ate their breakfast in silence, not necessarily forced, but it was still there. Their forks scraping against the plates and their sips from their tea were the only sounds that echoed throughout the ground floor of the home.

Picking up both her and her daddy's plates, Luna went over to the sink and sat them into the sink—knowing that she could clean them later. She went back upstairs so that she could get her present for her daddy, knowing that he would be happy with what he saw.

Coming back downstairs, Luna smiled when she saw that her daddy had her present on the kitchen table too—ready for her to open. Their red and green striped wrapping paper made them both know that the other's present was in a square box. It wasn't some odd shape, which her daddy sometimes had when it came to her presents that had to be actual pieces of animals that she had claimed were real.

Sitting down in her previous seat, Luna quietly handed her present over to her daddy. He thanked her as he handed her present to her—she quietly thanked him too before she watched her daddy open his present.

It was a scrap book of all her sketches that she had done since her mum had died. Some of them were sketches that were based off of photographs that were throughout the house and others were of her creatures. They were all charmed so that they could move; her mum's face was only in black and white in the charcoal sketches but her soft eyes could still be vividly remembered as their misty light blue hue.

Tears dripped down her daddy's face as he quietly thanked her once more, telling him that her mum would be proud of her. Ushering her to open her present, Luna tore off the wrapper before she widened her eyes at the sight that was before her.

"You did it?" Luna peered down at the article that talked about Professor Lockhart being a liar and the sketch that she had done of Lockhart's figure with the trademark liar dragon fly creatures surrounding him was above the article.

"I managed to get it done. They said that they were impressed with your picture and that they are excited to see if you have any more pictures that will inspire them to write articles on when it comes to people and the animals that are around them."

Luna smiled some before she got up from her spot at her chair and walked around to her daddy before she threw her arms around him and hugged him. The both of them absorbed the feeling of their arms around each other.

It would not be until late at night when it was time for bed that Luna would be sitting on her window seat with her Quibbler on her lap, peering down at the article that had her sketch on it. She could only hope that people would learn the truth about **_Gilderoy Lockhart _**and his lies that he tried to make into glamorized truths.

Getting up from her spot on the window seat, Luna snuck past her daddy's bedroom when she went down the spiral staircase and went to the ground floor. She headed over to the kitchen area and began to make some tea, she was not really in the sleepy mood and she'd rather sit on her window seat and peer out at the beautiful landscape that was vivid in the distance.

Luna did spend a lot of time either on the couch with her quilt covering her or in her bedroom, painting on her wall. Her daddy was always down near the printing press and was making the newest issue, which happened to be the one that had her sketch and the article that was with it.

She only hoped that Ginny had a good Christmas and New Year too.


	13. wet feet

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_12:_**_ wet feet_

**Everyone was nervous** or confused at the fact that when they came back to Hogwarts there immediately wasn't another attack that had been prepared during the Holiday break. It was after all a perfect way in that demented person's mind to celebrate the New Year by having another person become petrified at Hogwarts.

Ginny seemed about the same, Luna saw. Ginny always had rings underneath her eyes and she wasn't as lively as she originally was. She was paler than before—which they all thought was impossible but she looked as though she was having the life sucked straight out of her and it made Luna's heart clench at the sight.

Her first Potion's class with Professor Snape in the new semester was strange, different. His eyes were still as hard as before—they would never have that hard layer be cracked open. He did though let his eyes linger over the light blonde haired girl that was listening with rapt attention, before his eyes would drift towards his office where he had kept her herbs that she had given to him.

They didn't work, but he had to admit that it was a shock that he had even had a student that had truly worried about his mental health and had gone out of her way to give him the herbs.

They might not have worked but he put the left over herbs into glass jars and placed them on the highest shelf so that even though he couldn't reach them without levitating them towards him he could still see that one of his students didn't think that he was a monster and that he deserved to die a gruesome death.

Meanwhile Luna could tell that everyone was submerged in the calm before the storm. As soon as someone would be petrified again chaos would ensue and everyone would be wondering if Harry was the heir once again—well at least those who just hated him general and wanted to blame him for the attacks.

Luna was leaving the Ravenclaw Tower when she heard her name from behind her. She turned her head, finding that Ron Weasley was heading towards her with Harry and Hermione behind him—the both of them glancing around at everything before they let their eyes focus on Luna again.

"Hi, Loony—I mean Luna. I was wondering if you have seen Ginny today. The rest of the girls in Gryffindor say that they can't find her and I know that you're friends with her so…" Ron brought his head up and rubbed the nape of his neck, his face burning red in shame—Luna could tell that he was embarrassed to have to admit that he lost where his sister was and that he was coming to her.

"Hello, Ronald. No, I haven't seen Ginny lately. She's not been that social to me though we are friends," Luna responded, her eyes flickering over to where Hermione and Harry were.

Hermione was looking at her with scanning irises—her dark brown eyes not showing any true amount of friendliness that she would give to others. There was an awkward stirring in her eyes, as though she didn't know how to converse with the Loon of the school.

Harry on the other hand looked curious, as though he couldn't help but wonder if she really was a Loon or if she was given a label like he had been given. She didn't smile at him nor did she tear her attention away from him until she heard Ron move again, making her turn to look at Ron.

"Ah, um, thanks, Luna. Let me know if you see her, okay? Mum will blow a casket if she finds out that I've lost Ginny," Ron grumbled, again shame floating in his voice at the thought of him being the youngest eldest brother of his sister—which meant that he would probably have more chances to even be near her since they were only basically a year apart.

"I will, Ronald—I mean, Ron." Luna could tell that he had a look of irritation in his eyes at the mention of her calling him his given name instead of being called his nickname. She would be the opposite if she truly cared about being called Loony Lovegood.

Anyway, why should someone feel as though they had to feel as though their name had power over them? The only person that had their real name hold all the power over them was Voldemort and he currently was unavailable (don't call again later).

"You're…you're friends with Ginny?"

Luna turned her head, finding that Harry and Hermione were looking at her and she nodded her head, "Ginevra and I have been friends since Mrs. Weasley helped home schooling me. She doesn't believe in the creatures that I believe in but she's always been really sweet to me."

Hermione frowned at that but didn't say anything. Harry on the other hand frowned and commented, "They shouldn't call you, Loony. I know that I get tired of being called The-Boy-Who-Lived."

"That's because you **_are _**The-Boy-Who-Lived, Harry!"

Hermione, Harry, and Luna ignored Ron as he piped that.

"Doesn't mean I want to be," Harry muttered, low enough that Luna caught it but Hermione didn't—she was too busy conversing with Ron about how tactless he was and that he should think before he should speak.

Luna went to open her mouth to speak only for Ron to turn back towards her and Harry, deciding that he had enough of Hermione scolding him like she was a teenage version of his mum. "Blimey, 'Mione, I was just joking. Come on, Harry. We need to go and find Ginny. Percy said that he's going to Owl Mum if she doesn't show up at dinner."

Hermione sighed and shook her head, while Harry began to walk forward before he paused and turned towards her. "It was nice to meet you, Luna."

"It was nice to meet you too, Harry Potter."

Luna watched as Harry turned around the corner with Hermione and Ron—the two of them bickering again. She felt a warmth wash throughout her at the calmness of Harry's voice and although it had tiredness in it he still held on strong, it was enough that she felt as though she could relate to his tiredness in a way.

_It was nice to meet you, Luna._

She also liked the fact that he called her Luna, that he didn't call her Loony Lovegood or that he didn't scoff at her when she talked about seeing creatures that mostly those around her couldn't see and she was happy that he looked at her as though she was just another normal student.

Smiling softly, Luna wandered down the corridors so that she could search for Ginny too. Part of her wanted Ron to find Ginny first but then again, another part of her wanted to find Ginny first.

Some of the portraits told her that they hadn't seen the youngest Weasley, but those who said that they saw a Weasley happened to mistaken that bright color of red hair of hers as one of her siblings.

Luna ended up on the first floor near the girls' bathroom that Moaning Myrtle inhabited—she was a Hogwarts student from a long time ago that ended up being murdered in the girls' bathroom and her ghost now resided where she had been murdered. She also happened to be in Ravenclaw but she wasn't really that spoken about—she was almost like that one dirty stain on a sweater that no matter how hard you tried to wipe clean it always stayed.

She only stopped when she noticed a wet gleam on the stone flooring. She continued forward to where the water was, only to find Ginny around the corner with her shoes wet. A look of relief washed over both of them—and Luna rushed forward to take Ginny's hands when she still seemed a little more distant.

"Ginny, are you okay? Where have you been? Your brothers have been worried about you!" Luna would have shaken her best friend's shoulders but she didn't, finding that Ginny blinked a few times before she managed to focus on Luna again.

_It's gone..._Luna thought, as she found that there was no darkness that was around Ginny, that the horrid aura that had clung to Ginny was gone. It made her feel reassured that she wouldn't lose her friend in the end.

"I'm fine, Luna. I really am. I should go and find my brothers, I'm certain that they'll probably blame my disappearance on Ron. They like to do that, make Ron be the one who gets blamed all the time," Ginny commented, and Luna couldn't relate to it. Being an only child could only make her nod her head.

"Can I come with you? To make sure that you'll get to them safe?" Luna probed to her friend, earning a soft smile from Ginny before she nodded her head. "Thank you."

Together they made their way through the corridors before they found Ron of all the siblings, who had a look of relief appear when he saw that his sister was safe and sound. "Ginny! There you are! I'm so happy that I found you!"

Luna observed them once more, finding that Ron was concerned for a moment before he started to tell her to go to the Common Room so that he wouldn't be grounded by their mum. Ginny's face was beet red the whole time, embarrassed at being yelled at out in the open even though it was just Ron and Hermione and Harry and Luna that were in the same corridor.

Luna turned to go towards where the library was, so that she could work on some homework, when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned and found that Ron was beginning to walk towards her with sheepish features. "Hey, um…Luna…I just wanted to say thank you for finding Ginny. Mum really would blow a casket."

"Oh, you don't have to thank me, Ronald. I'm certain that she was heading up to the Common Room when I found her." Luna found that Ron frowned again at being called Ronald—she knew that within time if she got to know him more that she would start calling him Ron without forgetting to call him Ron, but until then she found herself slipping into calling him Ronald.

"Mum still taught me to thank people for helping so still, thanks." Ron turned on his heels and began to walk towards where his sister was heading to—which did indeed happen to be where the Gryffindor Common Room was.

Luna made sure not to focus her attention on Harry again even though she would have liked to look into those green eyes again. She loved how livid and beautiful his eyes were but they were also sad—with so much pain buried deep within them.

When Luna reached the library she had opened the door and went inside only to find that Mandy was sitting at a table and that she was studying for one of her classes. She looked up when she felt the eyes of Luna peering at her—she waved the younger girl over and Luna made her way towards her.

"Hi, Luna, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, Mandy. I just met Harry Potter." Luna reached into her satchel to bring out her books and some parchment, her trusty quill and ink pot. When she sat them down on the wooden table she looked up and saw that Mandy was staring at her as though she had just said something in Pig Latin.

"How are you so nonchalant about that? Not only that but why didn't you tell me more than you just meeting Harry? How did you meet him?" Mandy pushed her stuff off to the side so that she could hear what Luna had to say. Luna knew that this was odd for Mandy, she wasn't one that was all for gossip but apparently the fact that Luna happened to run into Harry Potter, well it meant that she needed to know everything.

"He was very polite. Ginny's brother, Ronald, was looking for her and he called me 'Loony' but corrected himself. Harry said that people shouldn't call me Loony and that he doesn't like being called The-Boy-Who-Lived so he understands what it's like to be called out for being someone that you are but you didn't ask to be."

Silence ensued for a moment and then Mandy smiled softly at Luna, before she reached out her hand and took Luna's in her hand—squeezing her hand as though let her know that she was here for her. "That's really sweet. I don't really know him. I mean I doubt he even knows me, which to me doesn't matter. We're not friends or anything, but I do have maybe one or two classes with him."

In the background Madam Pince was moving throughout the aisles, making sure that the books were still in their spots and that no one was trying to put books into their messenger bags or their other bags so that they could sneak them out and use them without having to check out them from the scary librarian.

She did though pause when she noticed Luna and Mandy and slowly made her way towards them. She glanced down and studied everything, making sure that none of her books were going to be ruined.

"Hello, Madam Pince. How are you today?" Luna probed to the woman, causing her to flicker her beady eyes to Luna. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should speak to her—her tongue clicked.

"I'm fine, Miss Lovegood." She spun on her heels and straightened up her back before she walked away—her back rod straight. Luna watched the dark clothed woman make her way around the corner of an aisle and disappear from their view.

"I bet she's lovely at staff meetings," Mandy muttered, earning a look from Luna—who craned her head to the side.

"Madam Pince doesn't seem to care if she's lovely or not, she seems like someone who only cares about her books. Remember, no one really knows that much about her from when she went here as a student. She doesn't really have any animals around her—I think that she doesn't have a vivid aura that attracts anything to her, which is really sad. I would love to have an assortment of animals around me."

Silence came again, as Mandy peered at the light dirty blonde haired girl as she reached up and pulled her wand out from behind her ear and placed it on the table. She opened up one of her school books and flipped it to the next chapter, the one that they were to learn next week but she decided to read now, and began to write notes—all the while Mandy sat there and observed the girl as she too studied, wondering if Luna would have more tales about talking to Harry Potter.

She hoped so.


	14. Valentine's

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_13:_**_ Valentine's _

**Xenophilius and Pandora **Lovegood weren't known for celebrating Valentine's Day like everyone else. Having grown up with parents that loved each other a little differently than normal people loved each other—Luna felt no excitement when it came to the first Valentine's that she was celebrating at Hogwarts. Well she wasn't really celebrating; she was being subjected to dealing with Valentine's.

She had found that with Ginny acting more normal and alive than before she was also more obsessed with Harry Potter than before. She often was seen sighing at the Gryffindor table and leaning her head against the palm of her hand and she would tell Luna about how nice and brave Harry was. Luna would listen and at first she would tell her that she shouldn't idolize Harry for being hit with the killing curse when he was a babe but he survived anyway, but Ginny wouldn't listen and Luna knew that she valued her friendship with Ginny Weasley more than anyone knew.

Ginny had parchment paper everywhere she went, writing down what she thought before she shook her head—knowing that it wasn't good enough to give to Harry. Luna thought that it was silly and she found herself loathing Professor Lockhart when he decided that they should celebrate Valentine's Day differently than they normally did at Hogwarts.

He even had proclaimed that he was going to wear pink robes (in a shade that made him look good, of course), fill up the Great Hall with decorations, and having surly looking dwarfs dressed in golden wings and carrying harps—giving Valentine's to unsuspecting students.

Luna spent her birthday alone—something that she had come to be accustomed to doing in the past, the first year without her mum was a hard year for her and her daddy and her daddy didn't celebrate Luna's birthday because he was in a complete anguished state.

She wore her star necklace though and used her new quill that her daddy had gotten her for her birthday; it was a navy blue feathered silver quill—it had actually belonged to her mum, whom had gotten it shortly after she had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

Today though was Valentine's day and as her first day of being twelve, Luna did indeed find that Professor Lockhart kept to his extravagant promises of making this holiday become encrusted into his students' minds—either for the best or for the worst. Chances were a lot of students were going to be scarred.

Dressing in her school robes, Luna went down the Ravenclaw stairs and to the corridor, only to find that Ginny was standing in front of her in a complete emotional mess. She smoothly made her way towards her best friend, finding that Ginny's legs were shaking and that her knees were hitting each other.

"I did it. I hope that he likes it." Ginny looked up at Luna, wondering how her friend was going to respond to it.

_Poor Harry, he doesn't seem like he'll like how the Valentine is given_—Luna thought to herself, having already noted that Harry Potter wasn't a big fan of things that would be like dwarfs dressed up in golden wings and holding golden harps going to students and reading out Valentine's, especially to students that harbored no romantic feeling towards them at all.

"We'll find out," Luna simply responded, finding that Ginny frowned but nodded after a moment, knowing that she truly didn't know how Harry would feel about it but she hoped that he would love it.

They entered the Great Hall and Luna went in the direction of where the Ravenclaw table was while Ginny made her way towards where her table was. All the while she had pieces of her red hair fall in front of her face, almost creating a curtain that hid her from the rest of the world. She seemed even smaller, more sheepish than before, and Luna couldn't help but feel bad for Ginny because she had a feeling that Harry Potter didn't have any sort of romantic feelings towards Ginny at all.

Luna sat down at the table and turned her head in the direction of the person that plopped down onto the bench—finding that the person happened to be Mandy. She had her hair in disarray as she huffed before she caught her breath.

"I almost wish I stayed in bed, I can't stand Valentine's Day," Mandy groaned, while she picked up some toast and began to put some jelly on it.

She looked over at Luna, seeing that she was studying both Ginny and Harry at the Gryffindor table. Harry was talking to his friends, while Ginny was trying to discretely stare at Harry but to anyone who paid attention it would be obvious that she was staring hard at Harry.

"What is it this time?" Mandy chewed some of her toast and found that Luna turned her head towards her, "unrequited crush."

Mandy sat her toast onto her plate and glanced behind her—seeing that not really anyone paid attention to them. Her own friends were down at the end of the table and they honestly couldn't care less if Mandy wanted to hang out with Luna every now and then, they might have thought that Luna was weird as hell and although they didn't seek out a friendship with her that didn't mean that Mandy couldn't hang out with her in the library or during breakfast.

"Yeah, I heard about that a week after school started. The sad thing is that she actually has the chance of saying that she gets to see him outside of school and that she can get to know him truly, but she's too blinded by the fact that he's the Boy-Who-Lived, whoopee-do, and so she thinks that he's greater than he is. She doesn't know really anything about him yet she has a crush on him."

Luna didn't say that it was Ginny but she knew that Mandy was smart and that she would catch up on what Luna was basically implying before she would even have the chance to even say it. It did help with eavesdroppers.

As it would turn out Luna was right, she could tell that Harry was afraid that he would get a Valentine anytime during the day—mainly because he had a fan club and Luna could find girls sighing dreamily at the thought of them being the one who managed to get the attention of the Boy-Who-Lived.

Luna knew that she would not have someone write her a Valentine's message or poem because she knew that being the Loon of the school meant that no boy would ever find her worthy of feeling at least pretty or being capable of being crushed on. She did not dwell on it though. She knew that when the time was right she would find her own boy, but if she did not end up with her boy like her mom ended up with her man then she would still be happy and content.

Mandy didn't get a Valentine though, which didn't surprise Luna either. She knew that Mandy was sweet and that she was pretty but she hadn't said that she had a boyfriend and apparently she didn't have a secret admirer. She had scoffed at the thought of her getting a lovey-dovey message from some boy that she barely talked to or didn't even talk to. She even said that she was twelve so she didn't see the point of taking it to heart if she didn't receive a Valentine.

That was something that Luna agreed on.

It was in the middle of the day when Luna was heading down the hallway that she saw Harry Potter running away, almost as though he had the dogs of hell chasing after him. He had a look of terror upon his features—and Luna had a feeling that one of his secret admirers had finally had a dwarf find Harry.

She didn't want to follow him, she knew that it was something that people would think was hilarious and that they would laugh or they would feel sorry for him. She only followed the crowd of people that were rushing to witness the scene play out because that was the direction of where her next class was.

She had just turned the corner when the winged dwarf had caught up to Harry and tackled him—both Ron and Hermione had gotten to the dwarf and Harry, where Ron had a look of fear in his eyes at the thought of the message or poem being from his annoying little sister. Hermione just pitied him; she knew that girls were the last thing that was on the mind of Harry.

Turning her head, Luna discovered Ginny and slowly made her way towards her—where Ginny had her hands together and she was waiting with baited breath in order to see if Harry would return her affections.

Reaching her best friend, Luna had gotten to her right when the dwarf had cleared his throat and spoke:

**_"His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,_**

**_ His hair is as dark as a blackboard._**

**_ I wish he was mine, he's really divine,_**

**_ The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."_**

Luna watched as Harry's face darkened to the darkest shade of crimson there ever was. Ginny stood next to her, her knees quivering again, as she waited to see if Harry would have a good reaction to the poem that she had written to him.

Luna sighed inwardly as she heard Draco Malfoy point out that the poem was probably by Ginny, and Ginny darkened her blush that could have rivaled Harry's if put in a competition. She spun on her heel and rushed away, before Luna could react and tell her that everything was all right.

She was about to walk forward when she felt the eyes of Draco Malfoy on her again. She turned her head, finding that he was looking at her with a different look in his eyes. It was almost as though he was trying to figure her out like she was a language that he thought that he could master. It made her feel even more exposed. They knew the secrets of each other; they knew that there were things that they knew about each other that neither was willing to tell others about unless absolutely possible.

"Luna?"

Turning to the voice, she found that it was one of the Hufflepuffs that she shared Herbology with. They were hesitate to speak to her but she had a feeling that this person only went up to her because of the fact that they heard that she had spoken with Harry Potter and they wanted to know what it was that made Harry be nice and civil with her and not call her insane at first glance.

"Yes?"

"Are…are you okay?"

Luna craned her head to the side before she spoke, "why wouldn't I be? Please excuse me, I must get to class."

As much as Luna had wanted to go after Ginny and let her cry on her shoulder she knew that it wouldn't do any good for Ginny. Ginny knew how she felt about the hero worshipping that she had for Harry, and she didn't support the fact that Ginny really did think that she was in love with him when she didn't know the true Harry, and Luna hoped that if Harry let her, Luna could find out the true Harry.

Luna was certain that Harry Potter only wanted someone to look at him and see him as a normal kid, that he was burdened with this curse that he never asked for and would take away in a heartbeat so that he could possibly be able to feel as though he could be just another student at Hogwarts.

Moving forward to go to her class, Luna's hair shimmered from the sunlight that beat in from the windows. She didn't pay attention to the murmurs that were whispered in the corridor when she walked past. She knew that they were doing what they normally did—staring at her and trying to figure out what the bloody hell she was even still doing in school, and how she wasn't in St. Mungo's yet.

Reaching her Charms class, Luna went into the classroom and smiled at Professor Flitwick as he stood at the top of his tower of books. She still thought that it was cute that he had those books as his tower and that he would not get a smaller podium. It also made everyone pay closer attention to him because of the fact that he was higher than them and he could tell if they were passing notes, plus they could randomly get called on when he thought that they weren't paying attention—chances were they probably weren't paying attention.

She couldn't truly pay attention in the class though, as much as Luna liked Charms she couldn't help but think of Ginny. She knew that the poor girl had skipped the rest of her classes and that she was in her dorm room and that she was probably crying on her bed because of the fact that the boy that she liked didn't like her back.

It wouldn't be until dinner that Luna managed to walk over to the Gryffindor table to see that Ginny was slumping in her spot on the bench and that she had tear stained cheeks and puffy red eyes. She turned her head, probably to tell the person that was behind her to leave her alone only to see the light blonde haired girl standing behind her with sad eyes that felt for her.

Feeling the eyes of the whole school on her, Luna held out her hand for Ginny to take—an open invitation for her friend to take her hand and allow her to take her out of the Great Hall. Ginny bit her lip and looked at the soft hand before she reached out and took Luna's hand in hers.

Walking out of the Great Hall, Luna could notice in the corner of her eye that Ginny made sure to look completely away from Harry in order to not start crying again. Luna noticed that Harry was looking down and trying not to look up at Ginny either—he wanted to put away her poem into the back of his head.

As bad as it was, Luna had a feeling that Ron had found Ginny and told her that she needed to stop this stupid little crush that she had on Harry or else he would probably have Harry stop being friends with him.

Luna knew that Harry wouldn't get rid of his friendship with Ron just because of the fact that his little sister had a crush on him.

Leaving the Great Hall, Luna went towards where the Ravenclaw Tower was so that she could cry some more and Luna could be there for her friend.

She could only wonder if Ginny would ever see Harry as more than the Boy-Who-Lived and The Chosen One. If she didn't then she wouldn't be able to see the true Harry that was buried deep within his cursed titles.


	15. raven & lioness

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_14:_**_ raven & lioness _

**A Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor had **been victims of the Heir of Slytherin. The only house that hadn't been touched yet had been Ravenclaw. The House was the only one that felt as though it wouldn't be on the bad side of the person that was creating this mayhem but it could only last for so long, especially when Luna expected for one of her own to be claimed by the Heir too, in order for them to have a rise in numbers before the creature that lurked under the school and in the Chambers of Secrets could come out and cause the uppermost horrid chaos.

So when Luna had gone downstairs to the Ravenclaw Common Room and found everyone in an eerie silence that was completely different than the normal silence she knew that it had finally happened. A raven had finally been claimed as a victim and she would ask who it was that had been taken and petrified.

From the crestfallen looks of the sixth years she knew that it must have been one of the sixth years that had been the victim of the attack. She headed over to them and found that they were ignoring her, glaring at her as though she had come over so that she could tell them that this was their payback for shutting her out.

"It was Penelope Clearwater. She's such a good student. I didn't expect her to be someone who would be in the line of fire."

Luna turned, finding that Mandy was near her and that she had a look of sadness upon her features—it wasn't strong that it was concerning but it was the kind of sadness that was there because she knew that Penelope was a good girl and she didn't deserve this.

"It wasn't just her though. That Muggle-born that hangs out with Potter was found with Penelope. It's probably Granger's fault, Penelope is a half-blood so she's not entirely a Muggle-born." Luna turned her head, seeing that it was one of the sixth years that had a look of hatred towards Hermione.

Hermione might not have been one of Luna's favorite people in the world but she didn't hate Hermione. As much as she said that she hated Lockhart she knew that she couldn't hate him—she just couldn't stand him. She had to sit back and reanalyze her feelings and made herself remember that there was nothing good in hating people, in the world there needed to be more love than hatred.

"I am sure that it is not Hermione Granger's fault. Penelope Clearwater has always been friendly; she always has pretty animals that follow her. Korog Ankos are dwarf sized dragons that follow those who are open to going to many paths and help others wander those paths. I have a few that follow me sometimes too."

Luna craned her head towards Mandy, whom merely looked at her and shrugged her shoulders—not entirely dismantling her comment and supposed animal that followed Penelope Clearwater.

"Leave it to Loony to dishonor Penelope that way. Why don't you just go away and keep your mouth shut? Penelope doesn't need to be put down like that." The same sixth year's eyes hardened even more, enough that Mandy reached out and took Luna's arm, pulling her in the direction of where the Common Room door was.

"Come on, I'm certain that since you've become acquaintances with _Harry Potter_ he could use someone to comfort him," Mandy almost shouted, but just said Harry's name louder than the rest of her statement—enough that some of the Ravenclaws widened their eyes at the comment.

They left the Common Room and began to make their way towards where the infirmary was so that they could see if Harry and Ron were still lingering and visiting their best friend. All the while the two girls were quiet, there were no conversations that reverberated between them and it was okay because they knew that it was not the time for them to be talking to each other. The both of them were in their own train of thoughts anyway and they didn't really know that much about Hermione Granger and weren't close friends with her to feel as though they had to talk about her and how she was such a good friend and how people needed to stop being mean to her.

When they reached the infirmary they were greeted with Harry and Ron leaving it and they had looks of sadness in their eyes. They paused though when they felt gazes on them—Luna was certain that Ron would tell them to bugger off but he closed his mouth when he saw Mandy and Luna standing in front of him.

"Brocklehurst what are you doing here? And Lo—I mean Luna, what are you doing here too?" Ron scrunched his features together; he didn't look as though he had the time to even ask them these questions. His face held stress lines and his freckles were more prominent when his features were the way that they were at the moment.

Harry stayed quiet and Luna slowly made her way forward, her heart racing in her chest for a second before it settled. Inwardly she wondered why her heart raced in her chest because that never happened before. She quietly dismissed it, knowing that it wasn't the time to analyze her feelings.

"I am not friends with Hermione; I am not your friend or Ronald's. I know that I am a year lower than you and I have just met you but I just wanted to check up on you. It was Mandy that asked me if I could come and find you. So here I am and I would like to know if you are all right."

Luna peered at them with unblinking gray-blue eyes that were still as misty as they were on the day that she was born. Her voice was soft and considerate and held so much mystery to both the dark haired marked boy and sixth son of Molly and Arthur Weasley that they widened eyes at her voice.

"That's actually…kind of _sweet _of you Luna. We've been better. We know that Hermione will be fine, she's strong and Professor Sprout is working on a cure as we speak so we'll be fine, but thank you for checking up on us. I hope that one day we will be able to be friends."

"Me too," Luna responded, her voice just as soft as before—her eyes calm and sweet towards him. She let her eyes flicker towards Ron, finding that he was talking to Mandy; it might have been about their homework because Mandy was explaining in enough detail that made Ron groan.

"Forget it! I'm going to fail! I'm certain that Professor Sinistra is not going to be happy about this!" Ron had a look as though someone told him that he was bound to become doomed to fail and that he should just go ahead—he should make his own grave so that he could bury both him but also his hopes and dreams.

"Oh stop being dramatic, Weasley, Professor Sinistra might not be like Professor Flitwick but that doesn't mean that she's going to fail you, just because you missed one assignment. Just ask her if you can have an extra day, you might get a good bit of your grade lowered because it's late but she'll still let you have a day to catch up…that is if you haven't been skipping out on assignments."

Ron chuckled nervously, reaching his hand up so that he could rub his nape. "Yeah…about that…I'm not like Hermione. I'm not doing next semester's work on the first week of our first semester. I'm not good at remembering dates…" Ron sighed, as though he was really going to go ahead and dig his own grave.

"Yeah well, all I can do is to give you advice. Take it if you want," Mandy replied and shrugged her shoulders, as though to leave the advice hanging in the air and she waited to see if he would take it after all.

"Yeah…I guess I'll try. Thanks Brocklehurst. Hey, Harry, we should go." Ron turned his head towards Harry and the dark haired glassed boy made his attention transfer from Luna standing in front of him with patience and no judgment, something that was rare he found when it came to the Ravenclaw House.

"Okay, um…well I guess I'll see you later, Luna. Thanks for checking up on me and Ron. It means a lot to me…to us." Harry gave her a small, manageable smile that made Luna only nod her head, "it was an acceptable social thing for me to do. I am, again, up to seeing you again. Have a good day, Harry."

Moving her attention to Ron—who had a look of irritation that seemed to come when it came to him thinking that she would just push him off to the side—Luna spoke directly to the red head, "It was nice to see you too, Ronald. I am not wrong to think that Hermione means a lot to you too, even though you don't like to show it. I agree with Harry, I think that she's stronger and smarter than anyone could ever imagine and that she'll be okay before you know it."

Ron blinked a few times, this time showing that he didn't care that she called him Ronald before he stuttered, "I—um, uh, thanks…I…see you, Lovegood."

Luna turned so that she could head in the direction of where the Ravenclaw Common Room was when she heard behind her:

_"I still can't believe that she's talking to us…I mean yeah I know that she's friends with Ginny, which is weird, trust me. But I didn't expect her to come and comfort mainly you since Hermione was attacked."_

_ "I like that she's talking to us. She's different and she doesn't care what people think about her. She's nice too. Besides, you can't help but feel better when she talks about something that is completely peculiar and doesn't have anything to do with the thing we're talking about, especially when it's something bad."_

Mandy shifted her attention away from in front of her to where Luna was, seeing that Luna was softly smiling at what was said behind her. Mandy couldn't help but giggle and shake her head, "it seems like someone has fallen under the awkward charms that a Mr. Harry Potter has."

Luna had a light brush of pink across her pale features, her already large eyes widening even more at what her friend had said. "Oh…no…no…he's just nice. He has very few animals around him, though. They don't really do anything negative but they just follow him because they can tell that he's troubled and they want to comfort him even though he can't feel or see them."

It was true; when Luna found him she saw a vivid red mist like shape of a phoenix sitting on his shoulder that was trying to rub his head against Harry's neck and cheek in order to comfort him. There was also a black furred squirrel that was trailing behind him, trying to muster up the courage to climb up his leg in order to try and comfort him too—the phoenix looked as though it was very protective of the burdened boy and wouldn't seem like he would like to have to share Harry.

"So you're saying that he's lonely, huh?" Mandy craned her head to the side, with patience radiating in her voice as she waited for the response that Luna gave her. Said blonde haired girl paused as she gathered her thoughts and answered truthfully, "He's lonelier than he makes himself out to be. I know how that feels…"

Luna could see in the corner of her eye that Mandy opened her mouth, as though she was going to ask the obvious question of if Luna really did feel lonely. Luna could admit that she did get lonely but she didn't let that get in the way, she had her animals around her so she didn't feel completely alone. Besides she always was used to observing others and learning their faults without them realizing it—she could tell what was their fears and their happiness and their habits were.

"Everyone gets lonely, Mandy. It's a part of being human." Luna continued onward with Mandy next to her—the taller and darker haired girl walked the same pace as Luna, as though to indulge herself into the strange girl's company even more.

When they were a few corridors away from the Ravenclaw Common Room both girls turned the corner and found that Percy Weasley was trying not to get caught running down the hallway. Both Luna and Mandy observed the older Weasley, the eldest at the school right now, rush past them with fear in his eyes. Luna had a feeling that this was for Penelope Clearwater and not for Hermione Granger.

"Percy Weasley is going to go and see his girlfriend, is he not?" Luna probed towards the older girl, causing Mandy to almost choke on her spit as she looked at Luna and shook her head, "Percy and Penelope are _not _dating."

"I would not be surprised if they are secretly in a relationship. I think that's kind of sad for someone to love someone else and neither of them want to completely go into the deep and make sure that the other is with them. I know that if I were to have a boyfriend that I would be there for him and that I would make sure that others would know that he is mine and I am not ashamed of him."

Mandy digested these words before she shrugged, "they might not be serious though, Luna. Or they just want to be together without feeling as though they have to have everyone watching their every move and be imputing unnecessary topics that they don't need."

Luna thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "yes, it could be that way too. Like I said before though, I would not be ashamed of whom I am dating and I hope that who I am dating feels the same way as I do."

_They probably will…I mean, if she finds a good guy in the future—_Mandy thought to herself as she dismissed some of the portraits that were trying to converse with each other, and instead allowed her eyes to fall on Luna as she drifted off to one of the portraits that seemed elated to see her again.

Mandy smiled some when she walked over and was introduced to some eighteenth century woman that had a thick French accent. She listened eagerly as she spoke with Luna, complimenting on her outfit and Luna told her about how her school work was and how she had met Harry Potter.

The woman, named Olympe De Gouges, said that she heard from others that Harry Potter was a curious case and that he seemed interesting and that she approved of Luna pursuing a friendship with Harry if she wanted to.

_I really do hope that when she's old enough to want to have a true relationship…a true first love that it will turn all right and he'll want to show her off and not be ashamed of her…_Mandy thought as she walked forward and focused her attention all on Olympe as the woman asked her what year she was and what her surname was.


	16. suspicions

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_15:_**_ suspicions _

**As if having **his best friend become a victim of the Heir of Salazar Slytherin wasn't bad enough, it didn't take long for Luna and the rest of the students of Hogwarts to hear about Harry Potter's friend and gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid being taken to Azkaban because of suspicions. It was almost like a breaking point for both the two members of the Golden Trio that hadn't been attacked yet, and Luna felt saddened for the both of them even if she didn't really have any opinion of Hagrid.

It also didn't help that Dumbledore was forced to leave too.

Outside of classes Luna was caught hearing Draco Malfoy verbally abuse Hagrid without him even being there to defend himself, not that Hagrid was someone who liked confrontation. He was misunderstood, just like Luna was, but he wasn't the smartest person and didn't know how to make comebacks to the insults.

When Luna was going through the open corridors that were built around the courtyard, she could hear the jeering from Draco Malfoy, as though he wanted to have Harry blow a casket and lunge at Draco in order for him to get in trouble.

It was known that Draco had been denied, _rejected _by Harry when it came to a friendship, and it made him become angered and embarrassed because of the fact that Harry didn't accept his friendship and chosen the 'blood-traitor' over him, a pure-blood that could show him how to truly be a wizard who would know the right beliefs and would have tried to make Harry into another bully.

In a bright orange jumper, neon pink short skirt, lime green leggings and black shoes Luna looked like a walking fashion disaster as she passed by Draco and inwardly pitied him. She could see the longing in his eyes, the want to find someone to be a true friend and he could be himself without having to feel as though he had to have the disproving glare from his father.

Crabbe and Goyle were on both sides of him and his other friend, Blaise Zabini, stood in the background. He didn't have any expressions on his dark skinned face. He was handsome—he would have a strong jaw and cheekbones and deep brown eyes when he would grow older, and he would still have no expression whatsoever. He almost seemed like he put up with Draco because of the fact that they were in the same social circle and wanted to still bring honor to his family.

Blaise noticed her first, his eyebrows actually almost rising at the sight of her atrocious ensemble but he managed to keep his emotions gone. Luna could see on the other side of the courtyard that Harry was standing there with his jaw clenched and shaking in anger, but he had to remind himself not to lunge forward and attack Draco.

"Look, Draco, it's that weird girl!"

It was Crabbe that had grunted this, and to anyone else they would have applauded the boy for even having observation skills but Luna was not that kind of person. She merely kept forward and allowed her satchel to sway back and forth. She was the only brightly colored person in the whole cluster of students, it would be impossible for someone to not actually see her.

Draco snapped his head towards Luna so fast that everyone wondered why he didn't have whiplash. "Well look who decided to show up. What are you wearing, Loony? You must be a little insane to wear that, much less try to be friends with Harry Potter. If he ever thinks of being friends with you it's only out of pity."

A few of the Slytherins in the background giggled and snorted and chuckled at his ill spilled words but Blaise was not one of them. He really looked like he didn't even want to be here.

"Malfoy, leave Luna alone! She didn't do anything. If anything your friends are friends with you only out of pity and because your father probably pays them to be your friends!" Harry shouted, causing everyone to pause and look at Harry with surprise, and even Luna blinked a few times—not expecting Harry to defend her.

Draco went to open his mouth but Luna merely smiled at Harry and responded, "Thank you for defending me, Harry, that's really nice of you. I don't let people's judgment of me get in my way."

It was true though and even Draco knew that no matter how much he insulted the strange girl she still wouldn't break down because of him. She hadn't cried in her bed in the dorm and she hadn't written to her daddy and told him about Draco because she knew that even if she was upset that he couldn't do anything, her daddy was terrified of the Malfoy's.

"Like I even care, Lovegood, just because you don't care about my insults doesn't mean I won't stop insulting you. It is fun and I know now that it's going to get on precious Potter's nerves." Draco looked like he was a cat that had finally eaten a canary or Christmas came early, it was enough that Luna inwardly shook her head—wishing inwardly that he had been raised differently.

Luna began to move forward again, knowing that she was done with them. She was going to head towards the tree that was near the Black Lake so that she could read some Muggle play that she had found in the town that was near her house. It was from the famous play writer, William Shakespeare, and the current play that she was reading was called **_A Midsummer Night's Dream_**.

She liked reading classic novels and plays from centuries ago, but she also liked to read a large assortment of different genres too. She didn't read horror, which was something that never appealed to her. She didn't want to read about people being murdered in gruesome manners with details that were too pronounced and explained—painting a horrible picture that she didn't want to begin imagining.

Luna hummed as she walked out of the courtyard and to the corridor that was towards the large tree. As she made her way to the courtyard she noted that Professor McGonagall was heading towards the courtyard with stressed, tired features that let her know that the older woman was tired of having to break up fights between Harry and Draco.

Reaching the tree after her ten minute walk, Luna smiled when she saw the Black Lake not that far from where her tree was. It was beautiful and still.

Sitting cross legged on the grass, Luna searched through her bag and found her book that she had been searching for. She brought it out and thought for a moment before she also brought out the quilt. She laid the quilt over her and opened the book, flipping to the page that she had last been on.

She was about to get to a good part when she heard footsteps. She looked up, expecting to see Mandy or Ginny (it was a rarity to see Ginny out and about, she was usually in her dorm room taking long naps that would effect her overall sleep at night, but she still pursued the naps).

Instead, when Luna had looked up she had found that it was Harry and Ron that were heading towards her. It seemed as though Harry was the one that had wanted to come because Ron still walked like he was on egg shells whenever he had to be around Luna, which still didn't bother Luna in the slightest.

"Hello Harry, Ron, do you want to sit with me?" Luna spread out the quilt some more and the both of them glanced down at the quilt before Harry gave a look at Ron that let him know that he didn't want him to refuse her presence. Ron sighed and shrugged his shoulders before he sat at the end of the quilt.

Harry sat on the other side and peered up at Luna, his vivid green eyes were curious and it was enough that Luna shut her play book and sat it off to the side, only for the two boys to note the play.

"Isn't that a play from some famous Muggle play writer?" Ron probed his voice loud in the otherwise past silence. He was always a loud boy, ever since Luna had learnt her basic skills and subjects and magic he had always been the one who was the loudest and was sure that Mrs. Weasley noticed that he did something that he thought was better than his other siblings.

"His name is William Shakespeare."

Luna and Harry said this at the same time, their eyes catching the other's attention for a second before Harry blushed and brought his hand up so that he could run his fingers through his hair and turn his head towards Ron again.

"Yeah, that's it. We have a couple of his books at home. I think it's only because Dad likes to go into town and buy different Muggle books. He's the only one that's read this Shakespeare bloke but I don't think that he really cares about him."

Luna hummed as she brought out her satchel and began to search in it, before she found what she was looking for. She brought it out and Harry's eyes widened when he saw that the satchel had the same spell as Mrs. Weasley's famous bag did—because right in Luna's hand was an apple along with a small container with other fruits.

"I remember when I was being taught with your brothers and Ginny that you were always hungry, Ron. I always have food with me…Ginny usually eats with me but she hasn't been herself lately and I'm always hoping to gain more friends so I carry food with me all the time."

Ron's eyes twinkled with happiness at the sight of the food in front of him. Luna sat the food down and waved her hand towards it, "you can go ahead and grab something, I don't mind."

Ron grabbed for the tray and even though it was fruit, something that he didn't truly care for it was still something to eat and he was starving. Luna smiled warmly at him as he ate a couple of grapes along with some raspberries and cherries.

"Phanks 'Una," Ron said with his mouth full of food, making Luna motion for him to swallow and he did so before he spoke again, "Sorry, bad habit. I said, thanks Luna."

"Oh I know what you said; I just don't want to see one of my first friends I've ever had choke to death while trying to thank me." Luna knew that she was blunt, that she told the truth and that to others it made them uncomfortable but Harry shook his head, making her turn her head towards him.

"I think it's obvious that Ron will be your friend now, since you're giving him free food but I want to be your friend too," Harry addressed, ignoring Ron as he finally began to chew his food better.

"That would be very nice, Harry. Are you hungry? I'm certain that Ronald would be happy to share." Luna turned her head, finding that Ron had paused where he had went to grab another cherry before he blushed and pushed the tray to Harry, muttering about him getting carried away.

Harry chuckled, "don't worry about it, mate. I'm not hungry."

That was enough of a reassurance for Ron, because he began to eat again. Luna turned her attention away from the red haired and freckled boy to the scenery around her. She peered at the Black Lake that was off in the distance, there wasn't anyone that had wanted to come outside and she knew that it was sad that no one wanted to come out anymore. It was still so beautiful outside, and the weather was starting to get warmer.

"Hey…Luna, does it really not bother you that Malfoy gave you that nickname?" Harry quietly asked Luna, only for her to turn her attention away from the dark surface of the Scottish lake to Harry again.

"Oh, no, I don't let names get to me. A name should never have power over you. Just because someone calls you these horrid names, well that doesn't mean that that's what you are in the end—I know that I'm not loony and I know that I see things that other people don't see but I shouldn't feel as though I am insane because of it," Luna responded with her soft voice, seeing that Harry absorbed the information that she had given him.

"I don't think that You-Know-Who would agree with you," Harry remarked, which in return made Ron stiffen just from hearing Harry bring up the dark wizard.

"You-Know-Who doesn't care what people think about him, as long as you fear him then it's another thing that he's accomplished. I believe it is not his name that people should fear but what he is. His name is just a name, he, himself, is something all entirely different and we shouldn't forget that."

Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Ron closed the container of fruit and looked as though he wanted to turn on his heel and run for the hills. She picked up the container and turned to Harry, "are you sure that you aren't hungry, Harry?"

Harry blinked, once, no twice, before he looked down at the container and then back up at Luna. "Oh, no, I'm fine Luna."

Luna put the container up and leant back so that her back was up against the bark of the tree, her eyes scanning the perimeter around her. She didn't see Draco anywhere near her, which was something that she hadn't become accustomed to.

"Um…is there someone that you're looking for?" Ron was the one who asked her this time, finding that Luna turned to look at him with unblinking eyes, "oh, no, I'm just used to seeing Draco Malfoy every now then."

Both Harry and Ron looked at her as though she had just recited an entire verse of a foreign song from a dead language. "What? He's following you? Is he stalking you Luna?"

Luna could see the concern that was lit in their features but she merely shook her head, "he's not stalking me, and he's not a threat to me. We actually know a secret or two of each other and he always likes to check and make sure every now and then that I'm not going to tell the secret."

"What? He has a secret? What is it?" Ron looked positively elated at the thought of getting some dirty secret but Harry merely gave him a dirty look, as though he needed to think more than his rivalry against the Malfoy's at the moment.

"I can't tell you, Ron. Draco Malfoy and I have a complicated past and I would rather it be just be between him and I. He values his privacy more than you could imagine." Luna picked up her play and began to flip to the page that she had last been on.

Though Harry had lost Hagrid, and Dumbledore, and Hermione—this afternoon soon opened up another friendship that would never be severed.


	17. no Ginny

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**16:**_ no Ginny_

**Luna had been **known for having excellent patience. She had spent weeks allowing Ginny to take naps. She saw her in class and they talked but they rarely had seen each other. Today though, Luna had woken up with this icy feeling in the pit of her stomach—as though something had happened to her best friend.

She wanted to just think that it was a false feeling, that her best friend had to be asleep in her dorm room and that she would come down to the Great Hall and they'd wave at each other. She'd go over to her and finally say that she wanted to come up to the Gryffindor Common Room since Harry and Ron had given her the password for the week and she wanted to hang out with them all.

Luna went into the library first, searching in the aisles and every nook and cranny there was that was known for being places where students would go and try to take naps without having Madam Pince come and drag them by the back of their shirts out of the library. She couldn't search that long though, Madam Pince wasn't in the best of moods (which honestly, was she ever in a good mood?), and after telling Luna that she hadn't seen the youngest Weasley, Luna was ushered out of the library and sent to go take her one person search party somewhere else.

Reaching up, Luna played with her butterbeer cap necklace, it began to clank with each twist of her fingers and step that she took. Her light blonde hair gleamed in the early morning light and her eyes flickered everywhere—her eyes held nothing more than complete sadness and if someone walked past her they would feel their hearts clench and wonder what it was that had made Luna feel sad.

Rushing around a corner, Luna almost fell on her butt when she hit someone. She went flying back and hit her tailbone, making her hiss as she looked up and saw that Mandy had been the one who had been running, and that she had a look of terror in her eyes. Luna knew that the look was always associated with the Heir and she had a feeling that someone else had become a victim.

"It's your friend Ginny!"

Luna felt an ice cold shiver rush down her spine as she looked up at the dark haired girl that still had a true look of terror. Luna got up from her spot on the stone and spoke, "what do you mean, Mandy? What's wrong with Ginny?"

"It's—it's the Heir! I think they took her!"

"What? That's not possible; Ginny is a pureblood like I am. There's no way that she's been a target." Luna was always an open minded person, but she knew that it couldn't be possible. Ginny was from a pureblood family, it might not be the oldest family in England but it was one of them.

"Everyone is looking for her! They can't find her, and she's the only one who can't be accounted for." Mandy reached her hand out and took Luna's hand before she tugged her in the direction of where the wall that had the message on it was.

If Luna wasn't so numb at the moment, she would have been hissing in pain at the feeling of the squeeze that Mandy had on her wrist. Instead she almost wished that Mandy would run faster so that they could go to the message and Luna could hopefully disprove what it said.

Turning the corner, Luna was greeted with the sight of the wall and the original message being painted over with larger font.

As she got close enough to read the message her heart almost stopped, her breathing hitched as she looked at the words in front of her.

**HER SKELETON WILL LIE IN THE CHAMBER FOREVER**

Unlike the message before it that just said for the enemies of the heir to beware, this one was designed specifically for the girl that the heir had hand picked to be the one who would be killed.

"Ginny isn't the one in the chamber," Luna stated, knowing that she could try all she wanted to push the truth away but from the sad look that was still placed on Mandy's face it was apparent that it was the truth—that Ginny Weasley had been the one who had been taken down to the Chamber of Secrets by the creature.

"I'm sorry, Luna. You really do love her, don't you?"

Luna sniffled as tears began to fall down her cheekbones, "she was my first friend. My only true best friend and I don't want her to die." She almost fell on the ground but she instead had Mandy wrap her arms around and try to keep her up.

"I think that I need to take you to Madam Pomfrey, she'll probably know what to do." Mandy kept moving forward and Luna knew that if she had energy that she would have been struggling in her arms and demanding that she let her go. She knew that struggling though wouldn't help in the end.

Luna didn't look anywhere except to the stone floor as Mandy dragged her in the direction of where the infirmary was. She would find herself in the company of the petrified students and she would be there, on a cot, with some medicine in her system that would probably have her knocked out for a few hours so that her body could relax and she couldn't think about Ginny.

She didn't pay attention to the sound of the doors opening or Madam Pomfrey asking who it was that needed her help. It wasn't until she felt soft hands touch her shoulders that she looked up to see that Madam Pomfrey was peering at her with her grandmotherly eyes that would have made her feel warmth but at the moment only made her think that Ginny was possibly dead below her feet.

"It's Luna, Madam Pomfrey. We think that Ginny Weasley was taken by the Heir of Salazar Slytherin and Luna is her best friend." Mandy went to put her hand on Luna's shoulder but Madam Pomfrey merely brought Luna's head up and rested it against her chest, holding the girl and shushing her.

"I'm aware of what happened with Miss Weasley. I didn't think that any of you would see it. I thought that you were contained in your Common Rooms! Apparently you weren't! If Albus was here—I mean _Dumbledore_—I am certain that this wouldn't be happening at all!"

Mandy kept quiet, wisely, knowing that what the medi-witch was saying was nothing more than the truth. Professor Dumbledore would have made sure that the Heads of the Houses would have all of their students gathered and none of them would be able to leave the Common Rooms at all.

Mandy inwardly flinched at the thought of poor Professor Flitwick being caught by Madam Pomfrey when she would see him next and getting a stern lecture from her. It was enough that she knew that no one wanted to get on the bad side of Madam Pomfrey, she could as easily wound you as she could heal you.

"Will she be all right, Madam Pomfrey? You were the only one that I thought could take care of her. I know that she's probably going through shock but—"

"Don't start worrying on me more than you are right now, I'm pleased that you decided to bring Miss Lovegood to me, Miss Brocklehurst. I don't normally do this, but since she's in such a fragile state and she will probably need someone here that is her friend too when she wakes up, I wouldn't be against having you getting a chair and putting it beside her bed."

Luna felt both the older woman and her friend carry her over to where one of the empty cots were before Madam Pomfrey spelled Luna's clothes to a simple hospital gown. It might not be glamorous but it would be better for her than a pair of shorts and a quarter sleeved blue turtle necked sweater. 

"Please sit here while I go Floo Professor Flitwick. I am going to go have some choice words with him, don't you worry about that, sweetie." Madam Pomfrey spun on her heel and marched over to where her quarters were so that she could use her fireplace to communicate with Professor Flitwick.

Luna turned on her side and looked away from the direction of where Mandy was. She liked how Mandy was now slowly becoming a good friend. She didn't just push her away like she would have expected her to do so after the end of September, no the girl still stayed and talked to her and spent lunches and breakfasts and dinners and afternoons with the younger girl.

The only thing that Luna couldn't deal with was the fact that she wouldn't be able to have Ginny there anymore, if Ginny really did end up being dead. When she had first met Ginny she was drawled to the only girl of the group and she liked how the girl had bright red hair. The both of them were shy but it wasn't until Ginny was admitting that she thought that Luna was weird, but in the 'good weird' way, when they were five that it paved a way for them to have a friendship that would be tested.

"Look at her, Filius! I can't believe that the poor girl had to see the message! You better give those Prefects detentions and ten points off each for not watching over the Common Room better!" Madam Pomfrey's voice was hard and strong, enough that Luna didn't have to see Professor Flitwick to know that his knees were quivering and that he was squeaking in fear.

"Yes, Poppy, I understand! They will be getting detentions and having points deducted! Do you think that I should get in contact with her father now or wait until later?"

"Not now, no, I think that it would be best if she would get some rest. I'm going to give her some Sleeping Drought."

Luna still didn't turn around, she didn't protest to the fact that she would be given a potion that would make her fall into a deep sleep and that she wouldn't have any dreams. She almost welcomed the potion with open arms. She knew that if she were to be put to sleep right now and could still have dreams that she would be having nightmares instead of dreams.

She looked at the empty cot next to her. The sheets were smooth; there was not one winkle that was against the sheets. There were no dust motes that were floating in the air; it was obvious that Madam Pomfrey charmed the ward to make sure that it would always be sanitized so there would be no possibility to having dust be created.

Luna didn't turn her head when she felt a hand touch hers, or even squeeze her hand back because all she could think about was the image of Ginny lying sprawled out somewhere dark and damp with her pretty red hair matted with blood and some of it trickling out of her mouth as she would sightlessly look in the direction of where Luna would be standing.

All she could do was think that she wasn't a good friend. She had never thought that she was excellent when it came to being a friend. Ginny always tried to reassure her that she was doing a great job and that she would get better in time. It was normal for friends to fight with each other (they never fought but still), and it was normal for them to not have the same beliefs as each other (they never really had much Ginny believed in that Luna believed in too, or the other way around). It was normal for them to not hang out with each other all the time and that they would find other friends too, because there was always time for more friends and Luna should try to get over her social awkwardness that Ginny was trying to get rid of too but Luna didn't care if she was socially awkward like Ginny was.

Luna didn't see the point of having a thousand friends. She wasn't trying to change who she was, she wasn't going to try and be more social to other people or say that she liked what they liked just so that she could have another friend. She wanted to find a friendship randomly and they would listen to what she was saying and how blunt her comments were and what she believed in and they didn't necessarily have to believe in what she believed in but they still didn't mind that she would sometimes talk only about those very things.

"Luna, sweetie, can you turn to me so that you can sit up? I need to give you this to drink. It will make you feel better, and should make you sleep well." Luna knew that Madam Pomfrey didn't want to sound as though she was trying to drown the potion down Luna's throat.

Luna did though sit upright and turn her head towards Madam Pomfrey, the older woman stood in front of her with her medi-witch uniform on and her sweet features showing fear and tiredness in them. Professor Flitwick stood next to her, closer to Luna so that she could see him properly, he too looked as though he was scared that Luna was going to throw the cup out of Madam Pomfrey's hand but she wasn't like that.

Turning her head, Luna saw that Mandy was sitting next to her and that she had lines begin to etch underneath her eyes—Luna was certain that if she kept becoming worrisome to the second year that the girl would end up having her lines become permanent bluish purple circles under her eyes.

"Please, Luna. When you wake up you'll feel better," Mandy took Luna's hand in hers again, which meant that Mandy had dropped her hand before. She squeezed her hand softer than before—it was almost as though it was a feathery kiss that a mother would give her child on their forehead to make sure that they would fall asleep. She wanted Luna to feel soft and secure and know that there were those who cared about her who were around her.

Luna turned back to Madam Pomfrey and brought her hand out for the woman to give the cup to her. Madam Pomfrey almost handed over the cup with caution, but when Luna took it from her she looked up at the woman and she let her know without saying anything that she wouldn't throw it away from her.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Luna whispered, her voice sounded scratched and hoarse and it made her inwardly flinch at the fact that she hadn't heard her voice be in this state since the first year that she had been without her mum.

"We'll be here for you when you wake up, Madam Pomfrey and me," Mandy informed her friend, earning a small smile and a thank you from Luna before she took the potion and lay down on the cot.

In seconds sleep swallowed Luna Lovegood whole.


	18. broken core

**17:**_ broken core_

**The first thing **that Luna heard when she woke from her slumber was the sound of sobbing, and it scared her because she soon realized that the sobbing came from a familiar voice. It came from Ginny Weasley.

Sitting upright, Luna turned and found that Ginny Weasley was curled up in a cot and she was crying—tears were cascading down her cheekbones and she looked weak, afraid and Luna almost wanted to get out of her cot but she was soon greeted with Madam Pomfrey coming over and telling her to lie down again because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were soon to arrive and they were going to come and take her home—she knew that her daddy was too frightened to come and pick her up.

Xenophilius loved Luna, he loved his precious daughter but Luna knew the truth. She knew that her daddy would not come unless it was a near death experience. She wasn't about to be dead, she wasn't the one who was in the chamber so it made sense for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to come and pick her up and take her home, where she could be cared for by her daddy.

"G-Ginny, is it really you?" Luna almost cursed herself for asking this, because she could tell that her best friend was in complete disarray. She did snap her head up and turn her head, finding Luna sitting a few cots over.

"Luna?" Ginny reached her hands up and began to wipe away her tears but it was all in vain. Plenty more began to fall and Luna slowly got up from her spot at the cot, her knees shaking for a second before she made her way towards Ginny. Mandy was still in her chair, but she could tell that Luna needed to be with Ginny.

She quietly got up and excused herself, leaving Luna with Ginny as she finally reached her best friend and sat down next to her. She reached her hands out and took Ginny's in hers, "I thought that you died."

"No. Harry came and saved me. I knew he would," Ginny smiled some at the last of her statement, but it was kind of a bittersweet tone. It seemed as though Ginny knew that Harry would not return her feelings but a part of her would always seem to like him. "B-but I…I lost my magic!"

Luna straightened immediately, "what? I heard that's possible, but it's really rare. I never thought that would happen."

"It was the journal. You told me to get rid of it, and I did after a while…but I had to get it back."

Ginny didn't say what it was about the journal that was bad but Luna didn't push her to tell her what it was; after all, Ginny could barely talk as it was. The fact that she was even telling her this much was a miracle as it was.

"I should have gotten rid of it! I was so stupid…so naïve." Ginny went to wipe away her tears with her palms again but Luna turned and found a box of tissues. She handed it over to her wordlessly and Ginny eagerly wiped away her tears.

"I know that you're not stupid, Ginny. You've never been stupid, but yes you were naïve and I know that if I was in your place, if the boy I liked didn't like me back and it felt as though I could only write out my feelings to a journal—even one that someone told me wasn't good, I would be naïve too." Luna didn't want to tell her that she wasn't naïve and Ginny nodded her head, accepting this.

"I know that you said that you just lost your magic and you're not a witch anymore but I'll still be your friend, Ginny. I know that it will take some time for you to truly begin to become adjusted to it…if you ever do, but I know that you will always have me there for you. Your family will be there for you too. You all love each other very much, even if sometimes you bicker and fight—you're still always there for each other in the end," Luna quietly told her, reaching her hand out to take one of Ginny's hands in hers.

Luna wasn't able to say anything before the doors to the infirmary slammed open and Mrs. and Mr. Weasley came rushing in—along with the rest of the family. There was Bill and Charlie too, the both of them looking anxious but relieved when they saw their baby sister alive in front of them.

"Oh Ginny, my baby, you're alive!" Mrs. Weasley hurried over to her daughter, and Luna wordlessly got up from her spot at the side of Ginny's cot before Mrs. Weasley got there. She sat down and wrapped her arms around her daughter, holding her there as Ginny began to cry even more—telling her mum about her being rescued by Harry and then her waking and finding out that she lost her magic.

Mr. Weasley made his way over to Madam Pomfrey, who turned her head and made it obvious that she was listening to him, "is it true, Madam Pomfrey? Is my little girl…a witch no more?"

"I am sorry, Arthur but it's true. When she came in I felt no magic in her and I checked her core, it's completely severed. There's no way it can be repaired. Albus said that he'll tell me later what had happened, but I am certain that whatever happened down there must have drained your daughter of all of her magic."

Mr. Weasley looked like he was going to cry even more, there were a few tears that were falling from his tear ducts but he cleared his throat and turned back to Madam Pomfrey, "where's Harry? I don't see him in here."

"He's currently up in the Headmaster's office with Albus. He is all right though, Arthur. He was just tired, but I managed to give him a Sleeping Drought. He didn't sleep as long as I liked, in fact, he came in after Miss Lovegood over here and she just woke up, isn't that right, sweetie?"

Luna was quiet and sat still on her cot, her hospital gown still on full display. Mr. Weasley turned his head and finally noticed that Luna was there. "Luna, what are you doing in here? You didn't go after Ginny too, did you?"

"No, I was looking for her. I found the message on the wall. My friend, Mandy, found me and told me the news of Ginny. I was so distraught that Madam Pomfrey decided that I needed to have a Sleeping Drought."

Mr. Weasley gave Luna a tired smile and slowly made his way to her before he sat down on the cot next to her—they turned and saw that Ginny was still clinging to her mum, even though Bill and Charlie were trying to tell her that they would love her no matter what and that she would always be their Ginny.

"I know that my family might think that your father and you are kind of…strange, but I want you to know that I really appreciate that you care about my daughter so much. You were her first friend, after all. I know that you'll still be there for her even if she can't go to Hogwarts anymore."

Luna was silent the whole time, the crowd of red heads and freckles in front of her gleamed from the morning sunlight and Luna knew that if she still was nine that she would have been longing for that kind of intimacy that most loving families had but she knew that things were different for her and her daddy and she would have found it more shocking to have him appear there hugging her and crying and telling her that he loved her.

Don't get her wrong; Luna did know that her daddy loved her. Her daddy would go to hell and back for her if he was braver but he wasn't.

"Madam Pomfrey said that you and Mrs. Weasley are going to take me home on the way back to The Burrow." Luna noticed that the tired man with glasses and a receding hairline was always tired—he worked long shifts and did overtime at the Ministry of Magic and she heard how they could barely afford food on the table but they still loved each other.

"Of course, sweetie, we would be glad to take you home. I will, at least. I know that Molly is a nervous wreck at the moment." Mr. Weasley turned his head completely towards the girl, discovering that the light blonde haired girl with large insect like eyes was peering up at him with unblinking eyes.

As it would turn out, it was Mr. Weasley that took Luna home. Ginny still wouldn't stop holding onto her mum—her anchor at the moment. Luna felt her heart squeeze at the vulnerability that soaked itself into her best friend. She had never seen her like this and it made things worse when Luna knew that nothing that she could do would make her feel better.

Her daddy ended up encasing her in a hug and putting his hands on each side of her face before he told her that he loved her and he didn't know what he would have done if she had been in the place of Ginny. He did of course tell Mr. Weasley that he was sad for what had happened to Ginny and Luna knew that he was sad for Ginny but she also knew that he had said he felt sorry for him and his family and daughter because it was the right social thing to do.

A week later, her daddy finally let her out of the house. She had only allowed him to keep her within the house because she knew that Ginny needed some time alone. Yet when it was two weeks to the date since the incident with the journal and Ginny losing her magic core, she knew that she should pay a visit to The Burrow and see how her best friend was doing.

Dressing in a light yellow short sleeve dress that had daisies sewn at the bottom of the high waist circle swing skirt of the dress—Luna wore a large daisy on the top of her head and a small daisy necklace that fell at her collarbone. She loved daises and this was something that her mum had worn when she was a teenager. So Luna kept it on warm and sunny days, just like today.

Putting on her yellow tennis shoes, Luna bid her daddy goodbye and made the trek towards where The Burrow was. She hummed as she almost skipped through the tall grass and past the pond that was nearer to The Burrow than her house, since it was technically on their property.

Reaching the odd and quirky many leveled house, Luna knocked on the front door and waited for the person to answer on the other side. She already knew that it would be Molly Weasley, since she was a stay at home mum.

Opening the door, Mrs. Weasley looked down at the pretty blonde girl who smiled up at her warmly. It seemed as though she approved of the more normal ensemble that she was wearing today because she smiled back at Luna with more normalcy than she usually did—her smiles were always tight.

"Hello, Luna, dear, please come in." The plump woman turned to the side, allowing Luna into the house before the mother shut the door behind her. She had fatter cheeks, but kind eyes and a frizzy mane of red hair.

"Do you want some biscuits, some tea? I just made some; I know that Ginny will want some in a little while. She's still very sad…coping with the fact that she's well…you know. She knows that we still love her but she's devastated that she won't be able to go to Hogwarts anymore."

"Yes, please," Luna responded as the woman made a larger smile after she had started to frown. She ushered her into the kitchen area and Luna sat down before watching the woman bring over the tea and the biscuits. She sat them down and picked up her wand before she waved it—making all the biscuits raise from their plate and to the one that had been sat down for Luna.

"How's your father, dear? He's always nervous, I hope that he didn't make you stay all cooped up in that house last week. Then again, I probably would do the same thing," Mrs. Weasley admitted as she picked up her own cup of tea and took a long sip, her muscles relaxing after she drank.

"Oh, Daddy is perfectly fine. Yes, he is very nervous, has been since Mum had died. He did ask me to stay in the house for a week, he didn't force me to but he had hinted at almost making me stay in the house. I also stayed at home because I knew that it would be the proper and polite thing to do while Ginny is coming to terms with her new situation."

Again, Luna was intelligent—she was after all sorted into Ravenclaw for a reason. She was blunt, but she also knew when to be more subtle about things. For all she knew Ginny could be lingering around the corridor upstairs and listening to her and Mrs. Weasley's entire conversation. She didn't want her best friend to hear her talk so freely about the fact that she had lost her magic and Luna was acting like it was just a different weather pattern than predicted for the day.

"You're very kind, Luna. I must admit that you are very…_special _in your own way and though we don't believe in the creatures that you do that I am glad that you have been here for Ginny. She told me the other day that you reminded her that we will always be there for her and that her family will never abandon her. I can't thank you enough for telling her that."

"Oh, I was just telling her the truth. I know that you and your husband value family over anything else and you hope to raise your children to think the same thing too. I know that they will value family over anything too, though I must admit that there will probably be some difficult times ahead for all of you—other than this obstacle that you must try and deal with and try to overcome one day." Luna took a sip of her tea, finding that Mrs. Weasley blinked a few times, reminding herself that she was talking to a girl of only twelve years of age instead of a thirty something year old woman.

"I can see why you were sorted into Ravenclaw, my dear. You are very smart and wise for you age, and mature. Again, I am glad that my daughter did pursue a friendship with you. I know that you will be here in the long-run. Now, please excuse me, I must go and see if Ginny is up and wants to come and eat some. Maybe she will come down when she knows that you are here."

"No need to, Mum. I heard you talking earlier, and I know that you don't like me eavesdropping but I could tell that it was you and Luna. I would like to come down and eat and talk to you both," Ginny spoke, as she turned around the corner and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Hello, Ginny."

"Hi, Luna…it's nice to see you."

An extra chair was pulled out, an extra plate was made and another cup of tea was poured. Then a light conversation began, one that brought peacefulness into The Burrow—something that hadn't been felt for the past two weeks.

* * *

**Author's note: please be patient if you haven't read the whole fanfiction yet, I'm posting each part of the fanfiction as a whole each day. So I'm done with Chamber of Secrets, tomorrow I'll update Prisoner of Azkaban. Saturday will be Goblet of Fire, Sunday will be Order of Phoenix, Monday will be Half Blood Prince, and Tuesday will be Deathly Hallows.**

**-EMS**

**PS: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me**


	19. happy 13th Harry

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**18:**_ happy 13__th__ Harry_

** Luna didn't really **celebrate anyone's birthday except for her daddy's, which was a given, and now she knew that she was going to celebrate Ginny's with her since what had happened in the Chamber of Secrets. She didn't care to think back on it, other than the fact that she had gained a friendship with the Golden Trio—well two of the three, she had yet to earn a friendship with Hermione Granger. It didn't matter to her if she gained approval in the eyes of Hermione, or that she would eventually tell her that she was happy to be friends with her.

Still she was excited today; she was making a birthday cake for Harry, since he was going to turn thirteen. She was completely ecstatic as she stood in the kitchen and hovered near the kitchen countertops—she was focused entirely on making the cake, especially when she was going to make it the Muggle way, which technically was how she really made food in her house.

She hummed her mum's lullaby as she scraped her hair up in a high ponytail and smiled as she began to read the instructions on how to make the cake. It was a chocolate cake, something that she remembered from Ginny telling her about Harry. It had to do with Hagrid and Harry's cousin and aunt and uncle, which weren't that very nice. Still, Luna knew that she wanted to make a flavor that Harry could appreciate.

Speaking of Ginny, she sat at the kitchen table and was reading a Quidditch book that her mum and dad had gotten for her when they were in Diagon Alley and wanted to surprise her with something. Luna was just happy that the girl didn't throw the book back into her parents' faces and told them to go bugger off, instead she clasped the book in her arms and confined in Luna that it took a week before she could gain enough courage to open the book.

"I'm happy that Mum said that I could stay here with you while they are in Egypt, I don't think I could survive the heat." Ginny frowned at the thought of her being in the hot desert and fanning herself. Luna had no doubt in her mind that what they said about red heads and pale skin was true—Ginny would have been fried to a crisp if she was out in that weather without a hat or umbrella.

"I remember you saying that you don't care for hot weather, Ginny. I also know that you would like to be with me since I still want to be with you. You don't have to deal with your parents' and siblings' concerns," Luna responded, while upstairs they could hear the shuffling that let them know that Xenophilius was still hard at work when it came to The Quibbler.

Ginny got up from her spot at the kitchen table and made her way over to where Luna was, smiling when she saw that her best friend happened to have cake mix all over her face and hair and apron. She shook her head, "Mum would be going bonkers if you were cooking Harry's cake in her kitchen."

"Then it's a good thing that I'm cooking it at my home," Luna commented, while her eyes trailed over to where the cake mix was. "I quite like making it the Muggle way; I don't see the point in having to make my cake with just my wand. It's not as fun as making it yourself with your own hands."

Ginny nodded her head, agreeing with her. "I'm not that big of a cook or baker, to be honest. I do like making something every now and then. Mum said that she'll start helping me make things, I hope that it's something that I can do to get my mind off things."

"Oh yes, it is very common for people to find comfort in cooking and baking. It gets worries off their mind, mine happens to be painting and sketching. Mandy said that I have a knack for it," Luna admitted, before she poured the cake mix into the cake pan so that she could put it in the oven.

"How is Mandy, anyway? I'm happy that you've got another friend," Ginny probed as she reached forward to wipe her finger against the top rim of the clear bowl that had been painted with wild flowers by Luna.

"Oh, she's doing fine. She said that her family is going to California soon; she has family that lives over there. She's a half-blood, and some of her family moved over to America." Luna put on the quilted chicken oven mitts that Mandy sent to her a few weeks ago—she said that one of her aunts had given them as a gag gift to her but she knew that Luna would appreciate and use them.

"Uh…huh, by the way, I like your oven mitts, Luna." Ginny chuckled at the sight of her strange best friend standing in front of her with a flower patterned kitchen apron, messy hair and face that was coated in cake mix and batter along with wearing the cliché chicken oven mitts.

"Thank you, I quite like them too. Daddy thought that they were quite strange." Luna smiled down at the mitts. She had to admit that when she had gotten them from Mandy that her heart swelled in her chest. She wouldn't have imagined that she would receive a gift from anyone other than her daddy and Ginny (for her birthday and sometimes Christmas) but when Mandy had sent them Luna had to contain the tears that wanted to fall from her tear ducts.

"Have you heard anything from Hermione Granger? I heard that she had written to you shortly after school ended, just to check up on you." Luna turned on the correct timer for the cake and stepped back once it was put in, finding that Ginny had shrugged, as though to tell that she didn't know.

"Last I heard she was in France, which I admit I'm jealous. I'd rather go to France than Egypt any day," Ginny admitted as Luna trailed over to where the brightly colored and eccentric couch was—it was new and Luna was absolutely in love with it. Apparently her daddy had found it in town at one of the thrift stores and it was from eight years ago—where post-Disco was around.

Ginny sat down next to Luna, her eyes scanning over the couch. She had been sleeping on it, and although Luna had let her know that she could sleep down here while Ginny was in her bed the stubborn red head made sure to let Luna know that she wasn't going to steal her bed from her.

"Isn't this couch a bit of an eye sore, Luna? I mean it's really bright, brighter than I've ever seen a couch be," Ginny probed to her best friend, finding that Luna giggled some before she shook her head.

"Oh! The brighter the colors are in the house the easier it is to fend off depressed fueled creatures. They and trouble makers like to make a mess of the house, but since Daddy let me have free reign of the house two years ago I have made sure to cover as much as I could with bright paint." Luna looked around her, her eyes scanning over her pieces of art work.

Ginny knew that Luna was talented, she was very talented. Still Luna did not care to make a career out of being an artist. She had said that it was one of her passions, but her real passion was to be a naturalist—well that's what they would have called her in the Muggle world—but the Wizarding World called them Magizoolgist.

Ginny would have been a professional Quidditch player but now that was out of the way, and she felt saddened but knew that she would still find something that she would see herself loving, or at least come to learn to love.

"I feel sorry for Harry though," Luna suddenly spoke, making Ginny to turn her head towards her best friend, "why?"

"I hate that he had not been appreciated and loved during his childhood. I am sad that they pushed him to the side, only because he was a wizard. I might not know much about Harry, but I know that he was unhappy for the longest time. I am glad though that I am his friend now. I know that he will be happy that I have made him a cake. I don't think that he ever had a birthday cake before he went to Hogwarts." Luna turned her head towards where the oven was—they could start to smell the cake begin to bake and Ginny reached her hand out to touch Luna's.

Luna ended up spending a lot of time decorating the birthday cake, making sure that it was perfect. Ginny thought that it was cute, how Luna was making sure that she would give Harry a good enough cake that he would think of her and smile. As much as it almost saddened Ginny of the thought of Luna eventually falling in love with Harry she knew that it wasn't destined for her to be with Harry, as much as she had wanted to marry him and have children with him it wasn't meant to be.

Besides, they were only twelve. Luna had sat down with her shortly after she had been rejected by Harry and told Ginny that she shouldn't take the rejection as hard as she had. She didn't love Harry, despite Ginny thinking that she did. She had told her that she was in love with the thought of her being with Harry, with holding his hand and having him kiss her and telling her that he loved her.

Every girl fantasized about being with their crush, but Luna wasn't at the point of fantasizing about a boy yet. She had yet to find one where she wanted to hold hands with him and kiss his cheek and sketch her creatures so that he could finally see what she always saw.

Right now all she wanted was friendship, it meant more to her right now than having a silly crush on a boy that only thought of her as his friend or didn't actually know her to begin with.

So she had to make Harry's cake as perfect as she could, something that had surprised even herself. She was always messy by nature, she didn't have everything organized and eventually she would organize things but with this cake she wanted to show Harry that she treasured their new found friendship.

When she was done with the cake she had turned to Ginny, waiting for her verdict. The girl giggled some before telling her that it looked great and Luna sighed in relief before she picked up the box that she would put the cake in. She levitated the cake up and placed it in the box before she shut it and tied it with a multi colored ribbon that changed to every color of the rainbow every few seconds.

It was very distracting and inwardly Ginny wondered how the girl had even gotten hold of something that weird. It was something that was entirely not her taste but she had to remind herself that it was to each their own and to Luna she probably adored having ribbons and other assortment of things that flickered with colors.

"Are you sure that he'll like it? I just want him to know that I want to have this friendship; all I've ever had when it comes to having a friend is you. You're wonderful, but I want him to be my friend too. It's all I want right now." Luna frowned as she turned to Ginny, seeing that she frowned at the girl.

"Harry won't just suddenly stop being friends with you because of the cake. I'm certain that if you had burnt the cake or hadn't made it properly that he would still love the cake. I mean I've had the boy at my house before, Lune. I'm certain that he'll be so eager to have another cake to eat."

Ginny inwardly rolled her eyes at her best friend, if it was something that she knew it was that Ron had said that Harry had bought every thing on the Hogwarts Express trolley so that Ron could indulge in the sweets—all due to Mum not packing the right sandwiches for him their first year.

Luna nodded her head, having to reassure herself one last time that her best friend was right. After all, Ginny had been in the presence of Harry a little over a year longer than Luna had. She had never thought about her having a friendship with Harry to be honest, mainly because unlike other purebloods Luna wasn't counting down the seconds to when Harry would arrive at Hogwarts. She was certain that this was what the Malfoy's would do, in order for them to get on Harry's good side.

Look at where it got them in the end.

Luna called for the owl that her daddy had borrowed from the publisher of The Quibbler—she had heard that the man was really happy to hear that his editor's daughter was becoming friends with Harry Potter. Unlike her daddy, who was afraid of anything that could reflect good or bad strongly, the publisher was always ready to see something or do something that would make great news—including mentioning that he had lent his owl to said editor's daughter so that she could deliver Harry Potter a birthday cake for his thirteenth birthday.

"I'm sorry about Errol and Hermes, Lune. Percy would never leave Hermes here with us, he's a prick, but you already know that." Ginny watched as Luna gave the instructions of Harry's house for the pretty brown owl, it hooted to let her know that it understood her, before she went over to the front door and opened it.

Watching the owl fly out through the open doorway, both girls observed as the owl flew away without any distress upon its features or body. Errol wouldn't be able to carry the cake, and Hermes would look at Luna as though to ask her if she really thought she had the audacity of handing something that wasn't approved by Percy or looked like Percy would not approve anyway.

"His name is Charon; I find it quite amusing that Mr. Waterborne named his owl after the ferryman of Hades. Percy would appreciate having another owl named after a Greek Mythological person, even if he doesn't approve of the person that owns the owl. He's very particular about that," Luna commented as she shut the front door closed behind her, Charon was already away.

"Yes well Percy is known for throwing a paddy in the past when things don't live up to his standards," Ginny muttered, as she rolled her pretty brown eyes at the remembrance of the times that Percy was little and demanded that everything be looked over triple times instead of twice.

Luna didn't deny what Ginny said or point out the obvious—which was that Ginny was correct. After all she was babysat along with home schooled by the Weasleys so she knew of all the paddies that Percy Weasley had in the past.

"Have you heard anything from Neville?" Luna probed to her best friend as she went over to the couch and sat down; watching as Ginny eagerly nodded her head and looked through her bag that she had brought with her.

"His Gran doesn't like him tending to the conservatory but he says that it helps him calm down and focus better on his studies. He's okay with sketching, he might not be as great as you but he still sketches out some of his favorite plants. He actually found this strange plant that has all these health benefits and he grabbed a seed before he sent it to me. He thought that if I put it in a pot and placed it on my window sill that it would make me feel better."

Luna smiled as Ginny excitedly showed her the seed, it was a small and violet oval shaped seed that looked beautiful—she knew that there weren't other seeds that were quite like this one, it looked as though it was shifting to different shades of purple and it made her feel excitement at the soft look Ginny had when she thought of Neville going out of his way to getting her a seed from a flower that had health benefits but probably was thought of because it was pretty and it reminded him of Ginny.


	20. Diagon Alley

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**19:**_ Diagon Alley_

**The third week** of August ended up being the time when Luna decided that she should go and get her school supplies. She knew that she could have gone earlier but she wanted to go with Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. She normally wouldn't do that, but she found that she surprised herself by wanting to go with them. She also wanted Ginny to go with her so that she could walk around with her and go to Eeylops Owl Emporium so that she could see all the owls.

Luna still insisted that she didn't need an owl, despite the fact that Ginny was almost begging her to get one so that she could write to her and not have to worry about Errol dying because of him not being able to deal with traveling to Hogwarts again. Luna knew that the owl would die, she didn't know when but she did know that it was a low chance of him dying while heading to Hogwarts.

Yet here she was, arriving at Diagon Alley next to the cluster of red heads. Luna had already heard of what had happened with Harry and his Aunt Marge that had breeded bulldogs for a living. She looked just like her brother, big and sounded just like him—as though she was entitled and that what she said was law—no matter what anyone else believed or stated.

"I told Harry that you were coming today, dear. He actually seemed really happy to see someone around his age, he's had to stay in the Leaky Cauldron but he spends the day traveling around Diagon," Molly Weasley commented as she looked down at Luna—finding that the girl almost drifted like mist in front of her, humming under her breath as her brightly colored clothes made some of the older witches and wizards frown at her in distaste before they smoothed down their darker toned robes.

"Oh, yes, I know. He made his aunt bulge into a balloon. He was quick to temper, but I know that I would be too if someone insulted my mum the first year I was without her," Luna responded, her eyes traveling up to where Mrs. Weasley stood next to her—her hands clutching her purse.

She blinked a few times before she gave a sheepish smile, "I am sorry, again, my dear for not automatically remembering about your mum passing away. It has been three years, has it not?"

In the corner of her eye Luna could see that Ginny was giving a sour look at her mum, as though she couldn't believe that her mum would forget that her best friend's mum had passed away. That was one thing that Ginny had begun to notice, that she seemed to only pay attention to Harry's problems and just Harry period, only then she would put her son's other friends second.

"It is quite all right, Mrs. Weasley. I know that I am not as important as Harry; I know that you treasure him and think of him as your own. I do not expect you to do the same when it comes to me. I'm going to go shop now; do you want to shop with me Ginny?" Luna turned her head, not seeing that Mrs. Weasley had a look of shock appear on her face before it turned to anger and finally shame—at the fact that it seemed as though Luna had just put her in her place.

"Yes, I would love to. We'll come back soon, Mum. You'll be getting Fred and George's things, right? I know that Ron is going shopping with Hermione and Harry decided to go with them." Ginny made her way forward, going to catch up with Luna as she began to trek forward.

Luna smoothly made her way through the shops and got her new books—while Ginny wandered around in the stores and looked at everything, though she would frown and have a saddened look whenever the owners would ask her why she wasn't getting things for Hogwarts. Luna was actually surprised that they didn't know about what had happened in the chamber and that she had lost her magic.

She had no doubt in her mind that if any of Ginny's older brothers were there or Mrs. Weasley was that the owners would not be able to walk away without needing therapy and a trip to Saint Mungo's so that they could get some of their bones rearranged again and complicated spells that Mrs. Weasley shouldn't know taken away.

Reaching Eeylops Owl Emporium—Luna was greeted with Ginny jumping up and down in her spot, ready for her to go in and look at all of the owls and cats. Luna smiled softly at her friend before she entered, with Ginny trailing after her. All around them they could hear the sounds of animals meowing and hooting, along with other animals making odd sounds.

"I still think that you should get an owl, Lune. What about this one?" Ginny trailed over to one of the owls, one that almost looked as though it had wanted to go to some of the nests and cages that were empty, and Luna widened her eyes when she saw what kind of owl it was.

"Oh, it's a long eared owl. They are very pretty, not many people have them, which is a shame. They quite like snowy owls and barn owls." Luna reached the cage and looked up at the owl—which turned its head towards Luna and craned its head to the side, before it hooted.

The owl was large with fuzzy long ears (obviously, this was why they were called long eared) that were dark brown. They had deep yellow eyes and were splattered with brown and white feathers—its face had white spots arched up and down around its nose, while the rest of it was brown and white. On the sides of its face beyond the white spots it had a soft caramel hue, but everything else was dark brown and white.

Luna knew that her daddy would be surprised if she came home with an owl but something about this one made her feel as though she should get it. Calling over the owner, Luna probed about different things that had to do with the owl and in the end she paid for the owl—which was a girl.

"What are you going to name her?" Ginny was once again almost jumping up and down on the balls of her feet, as though she couldn't wait to send Luna letters when she was off at Hogwarts.

"Amice, it was a medieval name and it means _friend_. I could always do with another one," Luna responded, not noticing that Ginny had stopped jumping and down and that she almost had a saddened look on her face at the thought of Luna naming the owl friend. She thought that she would name her something different.

"That's a nice name, Luna. Are you ready to go to the Leaky Cauldron?" Ginny asked her, earning a nod from Luna as she walked with the owl in her cage, all the while Luna had almost a large smile on her face.

It made her look beautiful, she needed to smile more.

When they reached the Leaky Cauldron Luna walked in with Ginny, the both of them finding Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley sitting at the long wooden table with the rest of the Weasley gang.

Harry looked up from what he was doing, which meant that he had a look of trouble upon his face. Luna knew that it had to do with Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban and everyone was afraid that he would come after Harry. She didn't know how to feel about Sirius Black but all she could do was hope that Harry would be safe in the end.

At the sight of Luna standing in front of him with her different books and her owl cage, Harry had a look of surprise before he smiled at her, "hey, Luna. I see that you got an owl, what kind is it?"

Luna made her way over to him and sat the owl cage down onto the table, where the boys gathered around the cage and almost looked as though they wanted to open the cage and see the owl fly around the room.

"She's a long eared owl. Her name is Amice, it means friend." Luna found that Harry motioned for her to sit next to him. She sat down and looked over at Tom—who currently took care of the place. He glanced around, finding that there weren't any customers that were around them and nodded his head before Luna opened the owl cage and allowed Amice to come out and begin to fly around.

Turning to Ron, Luna addressed him, "hello, Ron. I can see that you got a lot of sun from Egypt. Did you enjoy it?"

Ron went to tell her about it only for Fred and George to come forward and tell her all about the different wizards and witches of ancient Egypt and how they were going to trap Percy in one of the tombs but their mum had caught them before they could do so—this earned another sharp look from said woman.

"I would only go to Egypt to learn more about the ancient spells and charms they used, that and to see some wonderful creatures." Luna almost had a dreamy look at the thought of her finding animals that were different than the ones that she normally saw around her—she sometimes got tired of seeing Videra Expera's and Nargles.

Harry smiled at her and almost chuckled, "I'm sure that you'd find some interesting creatures, Luna."

"Thank you, Harry. I hope that you have had some fun here at Leaky Cauldron. I know that the reason why you are staying here is not an ideal reason but I can understand why you did what you did. I too would be mad if someone insulted my mum."

Luna could see that there was confusion that was apparent in Harry's eyes but before she could open her mouth and tell him about her mum Molly appeared again and told Luna that she could take her back to The Burrow so that she could head over to her house—Luna knew that the woman didn't care for Luna's house.

"Luna, dear, are you ready to head back home? I am certain that your father would be worried if you didn't come home soon." Luna could tell that she wasn't trying to be rude but she knew that the woman didn't care for her as much as she should, despite the fact that she cared about Ginny more than anyone would think.

"Oh, Daddy isn't home right now. He said that he has to go to Mr. Waterborne's house, he's the publisher for The Quibbler." Luna noted that Hermione Granger frowned at the mention of the newspaper—it was obvious that it wasn't the smart girl's cup of tea; she must have preferred normal tea over Gurdyroot tea.

"Your father really is the editor of The Quibbler?" Hermione suddenly asked, making everyone stop and turn to look at the bushy haired girl. Luna nodded her head, "oh, yes, he has been for a while. I am happy that Mr. Waterborne had accepted Daddy as editor, it's an excellent newspaper if you didn't know."

Hermione went to open her mouth only for Harry to speak up, "Hermione doesn't read The Quibbler. She likes The Daily Prophet."

"Oh, I expect that much. She has a shield around her that won't let animals be in the company of her, she's very close minded of things that she can't explain." Luna turned her head towards Hermione, "I mean not to be rude, of course. I am correct though, am I not?"

Hermione gave her a tight lipped look and almost looked irritated but she took a deep breath and nodded her head, "yes, you are right Luna. I don't believe in what you believe, I see no reason to do so. If no one else has seen them then they possibly can't exist—so I think that it's quite ludicrous."

Everyone turned their heads towards Luna, as though they were expecting to look at a sporting match and find that their heads would snap to each of the girls when they would say something. Instead Luna sighed and found that Hermione didn't completely tell her that she thought that her daddy was crazy, "I think it is safe to say that we agree to disagree, Hermione?"

Hermione though nodded her head, "I think that it is safe to say that we agree to disagree, Luna. You might be a little too odd for my taste but you seem to make Harry happy so I won't deprive my best friend from gaining another friend."

"Mione," Harry hissed, his face suddenly turning a light red—enough that everyone chuckled except for Luna—whose face was suddenly turning a bright red at the fact that she had been told that she made Harry happy.

"I make you happy, Harry?" Luna turned completely to him, as though she was double checking to make sure that what Hermione said was true.

"I like you, Luna. You're different and you don't idolize me. That's hard to find at Hogwarts." Harry turned his head towards where Luna was, having looked away when he had said that, only for Luna to smile and look down at her hands.

"Did you like my cake that Charon delivered to you?" Luna looked back up, seeing that Harry beamed at the remembrance of the birthday cake that she had made for him and was delivered by a sullen looking black owl.

"It was really good, I love chocolate. Did you make it?" Luna nodded her head and he gave her another smile.

"Hey, since we're friends now, does that mean that you'll make me a birthday cake too? I could always go for some more cake!" Ron piped up, excitement etching upon his features at the thought of getting a second cake. He always had to share his birthday cake with the others but he could get a cake from Luna and he wouldn't have to worry about sharing that one.

"Ronald! Is cake all you can think of?" Hermione had a look of irritation—wondering about the audacity Ron had when it came to only wanting cake from Luna, and that he only wanted to be friends with her for free food.

"What? She practically gives us free food. Says that she wants to and she doesn't mind." Ron shot a smile towards Luna, one of triumph that let her know that he was happy that someone had wanted a friendship with him that was built on giving him free food.

Before Hermione could talk Luna did, "oh, he's quite right, Hermione. I like to make food or carry food around me. You never know when someone's hungry."

"Did you bring anything with you today?" Ron almost seemed to be jumping up and down, his legs were jittering and he wanted nothing more than to see if Luna actually did bring food with her.

"Sorry, Ron, but I didn't. I'll have to remember to," Luna apologized and to anyone else they would have thought that she would be annoyed or that she would be hurt at the thought of someone wanting to only be friends with her because she gave them food but to Luna she was just happy because she had been told by Harry that he liked the cake that she had made him and she had a civil conversation with Hermione when it came to her daddy and her and The Quibbler.

Not only that but Amite was still flying above her head, soaring up near the high beams of the ceiling of the Leaky Cauldron. She knew that she would always remember this moment.


	21. the werewolf & the train

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**20: **_the werewolf & the train_

** Luna couldn't imagine **how painful it was when they arrived at King's Cross and knowing that she couldn't board the Hogwarts Express—but that was what Ginny was doing at the moment. She stood next to Luna, but she had her back straighter and her chin pointed up as though she dared for others to ask her why she was even here when she wasn't considered a witch anymore.

She had decided to go to Platform Nine and Three Quarters with Luna instead of with her family, which was going in Ministry cars—another thing that had to do with the Minister of Magic that Luna didn't care about. She never cared for Cornelius Fudge, but then again she never cared for The Ministry of Magic. She knew that there were other things that were happening within those walls that they would never reveal to the public but were dangerous and unpredictable.

Arriving at the platform with Ginny was easy enough, the both of them waited on the sidelines for others to arrive. They noted that Neville Longbottom was standing by his grandmother, "Gran," and she had a tight lipped look on her face but she still had a soft look of love behind the mask. In her hat with a stuffed vulture, big red handbag, and dark green long dress she looked every inch of the witch she was—a pureblood Augusta Longbottom.

"Oh, there's Neville!" Ginny pointed out and Luna nodded her head, the both of them about to move towards where the boy was only for him to turn his head and notice her—he waved his hand excitedly. He motioned them over and reaching them Luna looked up at the tall old woman that was studying them with pursed lips.

"Gran, this is Luna Lovegood and you know, Ginny, she's Ron's sister." Neville had a look of fear on his face, despite the fact that he was talking about two purebloods—but Gran finally smoothed out her features a little.

"Augusta Longbottom, the both of you…you are friends with Harry Potter?" She stood there, quietly, as she almost tapped her fingers against her sides but Luna nodded her head and stepped forward.

"Oh, yes! Harry accepted my friendship, and he is friends with Ginny. I know that he is a good friend to Neville too." Luna didn't blink this whole time, her voice soft and Gran turned her head towards Neville, thinking for a second, before she smiled and straightened up.

"Yes, well then, I am happy that what I've heard _is_ true, you are Harry's friend, Neville. If he has to be friends with another pureblooded family as old as his, well I'm glad that it is us, Longbottoms." Augusta smirked at the image of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy not having that kind of friendship with Harry Potter. This was something that would make them more annoyed.

Ginny and Luna weren't insulted that she didn't mention the Weasleys being friends with Harry Potter but that was a given knowledge. One could not see Harry Potter not being friends with Ron Weasley, and the Weasleys were blood traitors for the purebloods so it made sense that they did something else that the others didn't manage to do immediately—say that they were the first pureblood family that had become friends with Harry Potter, though they couldn't care less about blood status.

_"Thank you," _Neville mouthed to her as he held Trevor in his hands, while Gran was asking Ginny how she was and that she felt sorry for what had happened to her, which was the truth—Luna had detected that the woman was sorry for what had happened to Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys.

Turning her head, Luna found Harry and the others appear. Mrs. Weasley looked both shocked but pleased at the fact that once in her life she managed to get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters without being late. Even Mr. Weasley had a look of surprise but then he smiled to himself.

"Ginny! There you are!" Ron made his way towards Ginny and Luna, his eyes trailing towards Neville—where he smiled. "Hey, Neville, what's up? This must be Gran."

Ginny kind of grimaced at the thought of the old woman telling him not to call her Gran but she sighed and responded, "Please refrain from calling me, Gran. I am not your grandmother, Mr. Weasley. I am pleased to see though that you are dressed properly for once, for what I hear about you and your brothers you always have your shirts unbuttoned and not tucked in."

Ron blushed some, before Luna turned her head again—seeing that Hermione and Harry were saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Of course Molly Weasley would not let him go without hugging him and telling him that if anything happened he should Owl her or go up to Professor Dumbledore so that he could borrow his fireplace.

Luna waited patiently for the two to head over to them, their eyes moving from the red haired parents of seven children and towards the odd blonde haired girl that was peering at them with unblinking eyes. Hermione frowned again, as though she thought that there still was something off about Luna Lovegood and that she didn't really know what it was that made Harry want to be friends with the quirky pureblood.

"Hi, Luna, it's nice to see you." Harry gave her a gentle smile and she responded, "I am pleased that it is nice to see me. I'm not used to having people be used to seeing me, they rather me be out of their sight."

"Just tell them to bugger off. Usually works for me," Ron supplied, before he turned his head towards the train. "Anyway, we should probably get on the train. I'll write to you soon, Ginny."

Now this surprised both girls, they never thought that Ron would go out of his way to actually want to write to his sister. Luna though smiled at the thought of Ron actually writing to Ginny and she turned to her best friend. She hugged her tightly for a moment before she pulled away, "I'll write to you too, Ginny. Amite will be happy to be our messenger. I know that she won't like staying in the Owlery."

It was true, Amite didn't like staying indoors that much. That's why Luna left her window open for the long eared owl. It was a good thing that it was summer though; it was starting to have a light chill. She knew that before long she couldn't do something like that—mainly because the girls in her year didn't like her that much and they wouldn't like to have her keep the dorm window open in the dead of winter.

After saying goodbye to Augusta Longbottom, the five students climbed up into the train and began to make their way down the aisle so that they could see which compartment they wanted. Of course most of them were already full or the ones that they wanted to stay in were suddenly taken by upper years that looked at them and sneered at them—telling them to get their own compartments.

Luna knew it was because of the fact that she was with The Golden Trio and either the upper years didn't like Luna or they didn't like The Golden Trio. It would have saddened Luna if she was someone else but she knew that there would be those who wouldn't care about them.

They finally found a compartment and shuffled in, intending to put their suitcases up on the rack only to pause when they saw a man curled up on the bench with gray streaked hair and tired features. He wore ratty clothes and held a suitcase near him, it was old and worn out too. In fact the man looked as though he never had sleep and Luna craned her head to the side when she looked at him—she could tell that he was younger than people thought he was.

She could also feel this strange aura around him and turned to the others, "he has a strange aura. I can't put my finger on it but it's different." Luna saw that the others were standing there with caution and she could tell that they were wondering if he was alive, "oh he's alive. He's breathing, he's very exhausted though. He must have insomnia, or something along those lines. He might be narcoleptic for all we know."

They slowly sat down and Luna didn't notice who she sat down next to until she noted in the corner of her eye that it was Harry. She could feel warmth blossom in her chest at the fact that he decided that he wanted to sit next to her—Neville was squeezed in next to him and both Hermione and Ron were sitting next to the curled up man, even though it was a tight squeeze, the man had long legs.

Sitting in Hermione's lap was her new cat, Crookshanks; it was an orange haired Half-Kneazle cat that also had a smashed in quality like face that made the cat not cute at all. Yet Hermione thought that he was adorable and that he was perfect for her—he also happened to have come from Magical Menagerie, a shop in Diagon Alley, she had been looking for an owl and found Crookshanks instead.

Sitting on Ron's shoulder was the trembling rat named Scabbers. Luna didn't care for Scabbers, there was something off about the rat and every time she looked at him long it almost seemed as though he was nervous and that he didn't want anyone to look at him too long, he even was missing a toe.

Ron began to tell Hermione to keep Crookshanks away from Scabbers, but Luna turned her attention away from the two third years and towards the sight of the older man lying curled up on the bench. She remembered who he was when she looked at him a second longer, his scarred features making her sad.

"Daddy told me that there was going to be a new Defense against the Dark Arts professor, I think his name is Professor Lupin. He seems really sad though." Luna turned her head towards where Harry was sitting next to her—his eyes studying the man before he let his eyes wander down to Luna's face.

"What makes you think that, Luna?"

"Oh, I can tell people's auras. If they are feeling a strong emotion I usually can see a color around them that lets me know what they're feeling. I see two colors though; right now they are gray and black." Luna let her features soften in sadness at the sight before her, only Professor Snape had been the other person that she had met that had this depressed aura around him.

"Wh—"

They heard the compartment door open and turned their heads, seeing that Draco Malfoy was standing in the doorway and that he had that conceited haughty look on his face, his silver eyes flickering over to Luna automatically, since she was sitting next to Harry.

"You sure know how to pick friends, don't you, Potter? Loony Lovegood, really, you know that you could do so much better—"

"Don't call her Loony, Malfoy. I—"

Everyone stopped when they heard screeching and were greeted with the sight of Crookshanks trying to climb over to Ron and get Scabbers—which was trying to scurry away, only for Crookshanks to jump on Professor Lupin, which in return made him groan and everyone to pause.

This gave Scabbers enough time to get into Ron's suitcase on the rack and leave Crookshanks hissing at it. "Professor Lupin seems to be waking, Draco. I think it would be best for you to leave."

Draco Malfoy glared at Luna, as though to tell her to not call him Draco—again, before he motioned for his goons to leave the compartment so that they could leave before Professor Lupin could get them caught in the act.

When the compartment door closed, Professor Lupin moved up and picked up the cat before he looked at the cat with curiosity. "A half-Kneazle, huh, that's interesting. What's his name?"

"Oh, his name is Crookshanks. Isn't he cute?" Hermione brought her hand up and ran her fingers through his fur when Professor Lupin gave him back, which in return made the cat purr at her—delighted that he was getting love from Hermione.

"Hello, Professor Lupin." Luna watched as the man turned his head towards her, his deep eyes catching hers as he studied her. He had long scars on his face and light hair that was even lighter due to the premature graying that he was having, he was still handsome in Luna's opinion.

"I'm Luna Lovegood; my daddy is the editor of The Quibbler. The boy sitting next to me is Harry Potter, though he prefers to be called just Harry." Luna turned her head towards Harry, who was staring at the scarred man before he nodded his head, "yeah…just Harry."

"I knew your parents, Harry. I was best friends with your father, James. You look just like him," Professor Lupin told him, making Harry perk up at the thought of getting to know more about his dad and mother.

Luna smiled at him, seeing that the boy's aura was beginning to turn lighter and so did Professor Lupin's though he still had the dark hues clinging on—no matter what. She had a feeling that they would always stay with him.

"You were best friends with my dad? What was he like?" Harry eagerly sat upright and even Ron and Hermione perked up, Neville was quiet all the while but he too was interested in seeing someone that was friends with Harry's dad.

"Yes, he made my years at Hogwarts interesting and fun. He was a troublemaker though. I remember one time—"

This time when everyone was stopped in a middle of a conversation there wasn't a Malfoy that was standing haughtily in the doorway and telling Harry that he shouldn't be friends with Loony, which was kind of surprising to be honest. It seemed as though he had pushed Hermione and Ron away and he was more interested in having Luna be the one that should not be friends with Harry.

Luna knew why Draco didn't want her to be friends with Harry, but she wasn't going to let that get in her way. She knew that she deserved to have friends and she longed to be friends with the emerald eyed thirteen year old boy with round glasses and a scar that brought nothing more than turmoil in his life.

No, this time, the train stopped and the lights flickered off—the windows were beginning to have frost appear and conversations began to stir around them, asking why they were suddenly stopping because there was still a while before they would arrive at Hogwarts.

As mist stirred outside, everyone knew that whatever it was that was out there was about to board the Hogwarts Express.


	22. chocolate benefits

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**21:**_ chocolate benefits_

** "Stay here. I'm going **to check it out."

Everyone stayed clustered together as Professor Lupin stood up and began to make his way to the compartment door—as though he was ready to fight whatever it was that was on the other side of the door.

He never got the chance to.

The door slammed open and Professor Lupin stumbled back but pulled out his wand, ready to fight still. Hovering in the doorway was a Dementor. Luna felt her breath get caught in her throat as she leant back into Harry without even realizing it, she needed something to keep herself stable but everything was muddled around her. All she could hear was the sound of Professor Lupin saying something but her eyes were caught only on the Dementor as it drifted towards them—the torn black cloak with deep depths within the hood, along with bony fingers outstretched as though it did want nothing more than to take them.

A sudden image of her mum dying, along with her seeing her daddy attempt of committing suicide flashed across her mind and Luna could only let her mouth fall open in pain and shock—she felt vandalized, striped and all she could do was feel herself begin to drift away and then darkness seeped in and she was gone.

Luna gasped as her eyes fluttered open and she lunged upwards, her hands reaching up to touch her chest. She hadn't even known that she had passed out and when she looked around she saw that everyone was around her and Harry. She turned her head, seeing that Harry was waking up too and that he was trembling where he was—as though he couldn't believe what just happened.

Turning to Harry, Luna went to touch him only for Professor Lupin to crouch down in front of them and place his hand on each of their shoulders. "Harry, Luna, I am sorry that you had to witness that. It's a Dementor, they are the guards for Azkaban, and they are known for sucking out the happiness in you. I don't know what you experienced but I have some chocolate with me and I know that it can help you."

Luna watched as Professor Lupin pulled out a chocolate bar and split it, before giving huge chunks to Luna and Harry. The both of them peered at the chocolate in their hands but then they began to nibble on them—the air around them smoothing out and becoming lighter. She felt as though she was frozen and now she was thawing out, she could feel her blood pumping and she could finally breathe.

"Here, separate it. I want you to eat some too." Professor Lupin turned so that he was facing the others and handed the chocolate bar to Hermione—she tore off a piece and handed it to Ron, who grabbed a piece, and finally Neville got a piece. He was quite shaken up and his face was still ashy white—as though he couldn't truly grasp what had just happened.

"I…I saw a bright green light and heard a woman screaming. I think I heard my mum being killed by Voldemort." Harry brought his hand up that was quivering, his wrist moving back and forth—and finally he reached his hand up so that he could run his fingers through his hair and push his glasses off for a moment.

Luna didn't say anything, for once, because she didn't want them to know about her daddy being suicidal when her mum had first died. He couldn't function without his soulmate but the only thing that kept him still here was Luna, if she wasn't in the picture she had no doubt in her mind that her daddy would have committed suicide and succeeded.

She knew that they were letting their eyes turn towards her, as though they were expecting to see her tell them all about her tragic back story with her mum. It was one thing for her to say something just in conversation but the sight of her mum's home lab going up in flames with her mum in it along with seeing her daddy trashing on the ground with a poisonous potion bottle in his hand—he hadn't drunken enough to die but he still needed to be in St. Mungo's for a good while—made her clamped up.

"Luna, sweetheart, are you okay?" Luna blinked a few times, not knowing that Professor Lupin was crouched down in front of her and that he had his hand stretched out so that she could take his hand and be brought back up. She felt tears begin to pool up in her tear ducts and she laughed with shakiness as they began to fall, "oh, well, won't you look at that? I'm crying. I haven't cried in three years."

Hermione Granger actually stepped forward, while Ron and Neville were standing off to the side—not really knowing what to do. Harry was standing next to her and for a second Luna wanted to throw her arms around Harry and cry, but she knew that he had enough problems as it was at the moment and having a crying girl holding onto him for dear life wouldn't help anything.

"Luna, do you want to go out in the hall aisle and stand there for a minute? I don't mind going out there if you need me to." Hermione had gentle eyes, and Luna could see that despite the fact that they were on complete different spectrums that had to do with creatures that Luna believed in she still was a good person and she didn't want to see Luna crying.

Luna could only nod her head, while Professor Lupin helped her up so that she could stand up on her two feet. She felt Hermione wrap her arm around her and begin to pull her towards the compartment door but Luna paused and turned her head, seeing that Professor Lupin and Harry were talking to each other.

Harry turned his head away from the nice scarred professor and towards the odd blonde haired girl with puffy red eyes. It was at that moment that Harry knew that he never wanted to see Luna Lovegood ever cry again. It was too heartbreaking to see such a strong girl be crying and not letting anyone know what was wrong.

"Mione will take good care of you, Luna. If you ever want to talk to me about it, know that I'm here." Harry gave her a gentle smile and Luna couldn't help but give a gentle smile back at him.

Hermione walked out with Luna next to her, the compartment door shutting behind them. They sat down against the wall and Luna curled her arms around herself—her eyes peering forward.

"I might not believe in what you believe in, Luna, and I don't think that I'll ever truly understand you but I'm here if that counts. If Harry sees something in you to want to be friends with you then that means that there is something that is special about you. I sometimes don't know how he puts up with me." Hermione almost chuckled but knew it wasn't the time.

Luna brought her head up and turned to Hermione, "Harry and Ron wouldn't have survived their first year without you. If you hadn't been there I have no doubt in my mind they would have never been able to defeat Voldemort."

Hermione almost had a grimace and responded, "You call him…that? The only two people I have heard call him by his name are Harry and Dumbledore."

Luna nodded her head, "oh, yes, I find that a name is a name and it's nothing else. A name shall never have power over you. It is not the name that should bring you fear, it is the person, themselves."

Hermione craned her head to the side, "maybe you're right, Luna. Still, you might be comfortable with calling him that name but I'm fine with calling him You-Know-Who. He put a taboo spell on his name when he was alive before Harry came along, so that anyone who said his name would have his Death Eaters come."

Luna quietly leant back against the wall and allowed her tears to dry and cleared her throat every now and then because congestion began to build up. Hermione told her different things about her home life—about her mum and her dad and how they were both dentists. She talked about her neighbor's dog and how he kept barking at the odd hours of night when Hermione was home.

"Hi, girls—I just wanted to check in on you. Are you both okay? Do you want to stay out here or do you want to come back in?"

"I think that's fine, I'd like to come back in."

Luna got up and dusted off her clothes before she turned to go into the train compartment. Crookshanks had followed them out and now was ahead of them—his scrunched in features still proud as he waved his tail back and forth, as though to proudly state that he was by his owner's side and that he should be proclaimed as the best pet there.

Luna sat down and leant to her left, not realizing until she let her head hit his shoulder that she had leant into Harry. She widened her eyes and went to bring her head up only for Harry to say, "You're fine, Luna. You're probably tired, I know that I am."

Luna let her eyes drift over to where Neville and Ron were sitting, on the other bench, as Professor Lupin sat upright again—he wasn't sprawled out and napping anymore. It looked as though Neville and Ron were playing some random wizard board game, something that Neville had randomly packed and was going to take out but was too late to be taken out. Trevor sat on his head, peering down at the board game and croaking every now and then.

Hermione sat next to Luna, reading a book that she had kept out of her trunk. She was curled up in her seat and she was absorbed in the book—Luna didn't care what the book was. The fact that Harry Potter had decided that it was okay for her to be leaning her head against his shoulder was surprising even to Luna. It didn't help either that she felt her heart begin to race again in her chest and that she was blushing, something that she had never done before in the presence of a boy.

They sat there quietly, while Professor Lupin would sometimes get up and wander the aisles so that he could make sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing, and eventually Luna found herself fluttering her eyes closed and falling asleep—not having any particular dream at all.

The next time she was waking up she was being gently shaken by Professor Lupin, who told her that she should probably get changed into her robes because they were five minutes away from Hogwarts.

Levitating their trunks down so that they could get into their trunks, Professor Lupin waited for them as they went and got changed into their robes before they came back in and he levitated their trunks back up in their rack.

This time Luna didn't lean her head against Harry's shoulder, but she tucked away the feeling of his warmth and how safe she felt when she was leaning against his shoulder. She never thought that a boy would ever be nice enough to allow her to do that—nor did she think that she would end up sleeping on Harry Potter's shoulder.

Then again, she never imagined that she would even be friends with him to begin with, and now here they were.

They waited patiently for the train to stop and when it did Professor Lupin told them to go ahead and make their way to their means of transportation. He was going to make sure that everyone was going to get off the train without any problems.

Of course when Luna had gone into the hallway she hadn't expected to run smack into the back of a Slytherin—though when they looked over their shoulder she saw that it was Blaise Zabini and that he merely studied her for a second. He was devoid of emotions, just like last time, and he arched his eyebrow up—as though he was expecting her to apologize to him profusely.

Instead, Luna had commented, "Hello, Blaise. I know that Draco says that I shouldn't call you or the other Slytherins by your first names but I think that it's nice to call people by their first names. I didn't mean to walk into you, I apologize."

Behind her she heard the whispered conversation from Ron and Harry, along with Hermione—she could tell that they were all wondering what she was doing, talking to Blaise Zabini and calling him by his first name.

It was a known fact that Blaise Zabini didn't talk that much. He didn't feel the need to talk to anyone to be honest. He talked to his friends, but really, were they really true friends? He just remembered his mum telling him that he should be friends with the other pureblood families that were prominent in Slytherin. Some of his countless stepfathers had agreed before they mysteriously died.

"It's Zabini, Lovegood. I think it's best to remember what _Malfoy _said. I'll accept your apology, this time." Blaise Zabini turned on his heel and began to walk forward, causing some of the girls around them to widen their eyes at the smooth voice that came out of the handsome black boy.

"So that's what he sounds like, huh?" Hermione broke the silence and Luna turned her head, seeing that Hermione almost had a blush appear on her face from the deep voice that radiated from Blaise Zabini. If Luna was anyone else she would have teased her but she wasn't so she merely turned back to looking forward and making her way forward again.

"I can't believe that he didn't blow up on you."

It was Ron this time and Luna turned her head, seeing that the red head had jogged up to her, as though he was prepared to fight against any of the Slytherins for her—she didn't know what it was that made him this way, maybe it was because she had fainted or was it because he wanted to prove to Hermione that he would be there as a friend for Luna instead of just there eating her free food?

"He just never cares that much, I can tell that he doesn't stand his friends. He doesn't like to call them his friends. He's only friends with them because his mum told him that it would be in their best social standing to be friends with Draco Malfoy and the others." Luna turned her head, finding that Ron thought for a moment and then nodded, "I still think that he's an arse though."

Luna didn't have a response to this, mainly because she knew that the Weasleys were like that. If anyone who was in good standing with the Malfoy's went to Hogwarts when the Weasleys did then there was no doubt in Luna's mind that they would think that those people were arses just because they were friends with Draco Malfoy and were in the Slytherin House.

Nonetheless, she merely dismissed what he had said and got off the train with the others following her. They made their way in the opposite direction of where Hagrid was with the boats, and towards their new means of travel.


	23. Thestrals

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**22: **_Thestrals _

**The walk to **the new means of transportation for Luna instead of the boats didn't take long; they rounded the corner and were greeted with numerous amounts of stagecoaches waiting for them. Luna moved forward, still moving like mist, as she began to walk forward and in front of the others. She heard footsteps echoing behind her but she could tell that none of them were eager to be next to her—except for Harry, she could hear him begin to walk next to her.

"What's supposed to pull them? I don't see anything." Luna turned her head, seeing that Ron had his eyebrows scrunched up and that he had weariness soak itself into him. She went to open her mouth only for Harry to beat her, "what do you mean you don't see anything? You_**don't**_see them?"

"See what?"

Luna had kept walking while Harry had a look of disappointment but determination mixed together—she reached one of the Thestrals that were in front of her and felt a smile begin to rise upon her lips.

The Thestral turned his head towards her—his dark eyes almost peering into her soul. A slight shiver rushed through her and although she wanted to reach out and touch him she knew that it wouldn't be for the best to do so. The winged horse, with reptilian features, and wide, leathery wings that resembled bat wings was attached to the carriage but still had this aura around it that let her know that he was more powerful than one could think and he could easily pull away from the carriage all entirely.

"Don't worry, Harry. You're just as sane as I am." Luna turned her head, finding that he was slowly making his way towards her and that he widened his eyes at the softness that appeared on her face—especially when she was near the creature. "They're invisible except to those who have seen death."

Harry was quiet and then spoke, "your mother?"

"I was nine," Luna responded as she quietly turned towards him, finding that he was studying her before he whispered, "I'm sorry, Luna."

Luna straightened up and began to walk away from the Thestrals and towards the carriage door so that she could get into it. Hermione and Ron were in the carriage—Neville had been offered to sit with some of the other Gryffindor's and was already walking away.

Luna climbed up into the stagecoach and Harry followed in after her, sitting across from her. Ron and Hermione were quiet and were looking away, before Ron turned and asked Harry what he thought he saw.

"_We_ saw our mums."

Luna turned her head away from the window and to Harry, having not expected him to even mention her. Ron had an apologetic look on his face as he turned his head to Luna, "I'm sorry, I forgot about that. If Ginny were here she would probably punch me or something."

"It's quite all right. Not that many people know about her," Luna responded back as she turned to look over at the window again. Thankfully the conversations around her had changed from mentioning her at all to other things.

She kept her hands together, clasped on her lap, as she peered out the window with her dark robes hiding her colorful ensemble. Her hair fell in soft waves around her and her bluish silver eyes kept their shimmering fog still.

When they reached Hogwarts, Luna slipped out of the stagecoach last and felt warmth wash through her at the sight of all of the Golden Trio waiting for her. She gave them soft smiles and began to walk forward—Hermione and Harry were on either side of her and Ron was marching in front of them, as though he was prepared to tell people to bugger off. It amused Luna—so she quietly giggled in her mind but an amusing smile still appeared on her face.

"What's funny, Luna?" Hermione probed to Luna, catching the attention of Harry too. He perked up, ready to hear something that would be amusing in the mind of Luna Lovegood.

"It's nothing, just that Ron is determined to be our bodyguard." Luna was quiet, she knew not to be loud so that Ron would not hear her—but from the amused looks from both Hermione and Harry, they too thought that it was quite amusing to see Ron heading in front of them with a weird macho-man vibe to him.

"He just wants to prove that he wants to still be my friend. I know that the comment about him only being friends with me because of free food has fueled his determination to prove that he's here to be friends with me more than just getting free food from me." Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Hermione had digested her words before she gave a grimace.

"Sometimes I wish Ron—"

"Luna! There you are!"

Luna turned her head, seeing that Mandy was jogging over to her, her hair had been cut shorter and fell a little past her collarbones. It wasn't as long as it used to be and it made her look more mature. She smiled brightly at the odd girl and reached her. She hugged the smaller girl despite the small squeak that came from Luna at the quick squeeze.

Sitting her back down, Mandy gave an apologetic smile, "sorry about that. I was visiting family in America as you know. My uncle is a physical trainer at some gym near his house so he's been insisting that I start boxing."

"You box?" Ron blinked a few times, he hadn't had any girls or women in his family that exercised that thoroughly—Ginny did do stretches and stuff before she would play family Quidditch with them but that was a given. Only an idiot would not stretch before playing a sport.

"That's just what she said, Ron." Hermione rolled her eyes at him, earning a "hey!" from Ron as he crossed his arms and huffed—obviously feeling insulted that he said something that could be taken sexist.

"I'm not great or anything but I'm pretty good, I must admit." Mandy shot them a cocky smile before she wrapped her arm around Luna's shoulders and began to make them walk again. The Golden Trio scrambled so that they could keep up with both of the Ravenclaws.

"Thank you for my present, Mandy. I quite like my chicken oven mitts." Luna smiled dreamily as she remembered baking and cooking with them—her daddy still thought that they were quite weird (which was ironic since he had a lot more weird things than one should have).

"Don't mention it." Mandy brought one of her hands up and waved it, as thought to dismiss the whole thing entirely.

"Wait, Ginny wasn't joking about that, was she? She told me when we came back from Egypt that Luna got some funny gag gift oven mitts that are chicken themed." Ron's face became bewildered at the thought of Luna actually owning those mitts but then he had to remind his own self that this was Luna Lovegood that he was talking about—she _would _own a Muggle gag gift.

"Oh no, they are quite real. I wore them when I made Harry's birthday cake."

Luna liked that day, she had fun with Ginny. Ginny taught her some fun things about Quidditch that Luna didn't care for but still listened to (apparently some professional player had just invented a new move?) and Luna had told her many different things about the creatures that she saw along with showing her the moving pictures that Mandy's mum had taken when they were in America that Mandy had sent to her.

"So you did make it! I'm so proud of you, Luna! You better have liked it." Mandy spun on her heels and arched her eyebrow at Harry, as though to tell him silently that if he didn't treat Luna right then everything was going to hell and one could just toss him being The-Boy-Who-Lived out of the window because he was going to be The-Boy-Who-Got-Cuffed.

Harry's eyes widened, the last thing that he needed was another terrifying angry girl in his life. He already had Hermione to fill in that position, thank you very much. He nodded his head though, "of course! I loved it. She's…she's a really good baker."

Mandy smiled softly at the fact that Harry's face began to turn a light red before he cleared his throat and turned his head away. She started heading forward again, with Luna still leaning against her. Luna had never had someone do this before—she never had someone throw their arm around her and walk with her in a friendly manner, or any manner before.

Ginny had thrown her arm around Luna's shoulders and smiled at people while she talked to them but other than that…

Luna didn't say anything as they reached the stairs that led up to the grand front doors of the school. Upper years were excitedly rushing forward and some of them were laughing as they were being chased by their classmates. Luna smiled gently at the sight of these carefree teenagers, if she was more active—if she was more social—if she was, no, she had to remind herself that she didn't need to feel as though she was something else. She was who she was—she was Luna Lovegood—and she now had a newfound friendship with The Golden Trio.

"So are you guys excited that we get to go to Hogsmeade finally?" Mandy probed to the three third years—both Hermione and Ron were instantly perked, telling her about how they already had their permission slips signed.

"What about you Harry?" Mandy turned to Harry, who frowned and shook his head, "my uncle didn't sign my permission slip. Apparently making your aunt bulge like a balloon doesn't help with that."

Luna smiled at him and reached her hand out as though she was going to touch Harry's hand but paused and withdrew her hand. She still spoke though, "I'm a second year, so I'm going to have to stay here. If you ever want to hang out when they go to Hogsmeade then you can."

Luna didn't expect him to accept her offer, she didn't expect for him to turn to her and give her tender smile but he did that. "Thanks, Luna, I'll let you know."

Knowing that they needed to go into the school, they began to trek the rest of the way up the stairs and into the front entrance of the school. They were automatically welcomed with the wonder there was when it came to entering Hogwarts—and Luna couldn't help but feel a flicker of happiness appear. The first year that she would walk through the doors officially as a second year she was with friends. She didn't have to go in here without anyone next to her—she didn't have to keep her head down and wrap her arms around herself and only be in the company of creatures that always were there to comfort her.

She only looked away from the portraits that were moving around her when she felt a hand touch hers. She turned to the person that held her hand and found that it was Mandy that was standing next to her with a patient look on her features. "Come on, Luna. I'm starving, let's go."

Luna nodded her head and loosening her hand some so that she barely had her hand in Luna's; Mandy began to lightly pull her into the Great Hall and towards the Ravenclaw table. They dismissed the Hufflepuffs and the Slytherins that were at their own respected tables—the Snakes already glaring at everyone that walked past them that didn't belong to their House or their blood status beliefs.

Sitting down near the middle (Mandy had decided that they should sit in the middle and Luna couldn't find anything in her to disagree with the brunette), Luna found that Padma was sitting further down and that she was talking to Terry Boot. He was listening to her but paused when he turned his head and saw that Luna was peering at him—he went to open his mouth and tell her something that was probably vile or rude only for him to pause when he noted that Mandy was sitting next to her and that she looked a little more muscular than he remembered.

"Hello, Terry, Padma." Mandy arched her eyebrow, noting that Terry had his mouth clamped shut and he turned his head away, so that he wouldn't have to get a response to the third year. Padma on the other hand turned to them automatically when he turned away and smiled at them, "Hello, Mandy, hi Luna."

"Hello, Padma. How was your summer?" Luna craned her head to the side, and listened to Padma as she excitedly told her about her visiting relatives in India with Parvati and how they missed their home country. Luna listened to her and nodded her head, finally telling her that she would love to go to India one day.

Luna noticed how the girl was nice to her and that she was trying, trying to be nicer to her. Luna had no doubt in that odd mind of hers that Padma was being nicer to her because of the fact that she was friends with Harry Potter now. Padma wasn't the best of friends with Harry Potter or the rest of the Golden Trio. She talked to them, but Parvati was the one that was in their House and she was the one who was more of a friend than Padma was—which still wasn't that much.

She listened to Mandy and others talk, only to greet others when they said hello to her. She wasn't naïve, she wasn't stupid—she knew just like with Padma that they were only talking to her because she was starting to become friends with Harry, that and they saw that she had entered the Great Hall with them.

She turned her head away and didn't really listen to Professor Dumbledore doing his introduction speech to the school or how they were now with another group of first years and that they should be excited to welcome more students.

Instead she quietly watched as Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley sat clustered together and they were in their own little world. She never wanted to be there with them at that table more than she ever did at that very moment.


	24. lion & snake

HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME

**23: **_lion & snake_

** Everyone was waiting **with bated breath for the first match of the Quidditch season, except for Luna of course. She did miss Ginny, she knew that if she had her best friend then they could sit together (Ginny would have had Luna sneak over to the Gryffindor stands), but Ginny wasn't here. Ginny would have been pulling Luna by the wrist and taking her down to the Quidditch pitch so that they could watch everyone try out but Luna would have been reading something or watching the creatures that liked to linger around the Quaffle, Bludger, and Snitch.

Luna didn't count though for her to be heading to the Ravenclaw stand with Mandy only for her to hear her name being called. She turned her head, seeing that Hermione and Ron were heading over to her—both of them were wearing Gryffindor scarves and Luna wore a red long sleeve dress along with a golden scarf. She had surprised everyone when she had come down the stairs in her Common Room—no one knew that she had a golden scarf or a simple red long sleeve dress.

"Come sit with us, Luna. You can come sit with us too Mandy if you want."

Ron had an excited look on his face at the thought of Luna sitting with them and Luna almost craned her head to the side like a curious cat or French bulldog. She turned her head, seeing that Mandy shrugged her shoulders.

"Go ahead, Luna. I'm going to go sit with my other friends." Mandy looked over her shoulder to the other girls that were off in the distance—waving and motioning her to come with them, so she told the two Gryffindor's and one Ravenclaw bye before she headed to her friends.

Hermione and Ron began to walk towards the Gryffindor stand and Luna followed after them, wondering why her heart was racing so much in her chest. She never thought that her heart would race this much—maybe it was because she was actually being invited to sit somewhere that she never thought she would be allowed to sit? She never thought that she would be able to sit at another stand for another House, much less the Gryffindor House.

Luna followed the two third years up the creaking wooden steps—all the while feeling eyes on her from other Gryffindor's as they peered at her, wondering why Luna Lovegood was going up their stand. Luna kept her mouth clamped shut, knowing that if she spoke that she would probably grab the attention of someone and that they would push her towards the stairs and tell her that she needed to go back to her own stand. She really didn't want that to happen.

Hermione reached her hand out and took Luna's hand in hers, making her heart feel as though it was caught in her throat and on the verge of being swallowed. It was insanely crowded in the Gryffindor stand, it was apparent that this House was very into Quidditch, and when they looked at her they almost furled their eyebrows.

"Ron, what is this? You know that it's against the rules to have those in other Houses in our stand!" Percy had a frown appear on his face and he began to stalk forward, apparently thinking that since he was Head Boy that meant that he could make his brother give him more respect.

Hermione stepped forward, in front of Luna, and dropped her hand so that she could face Percy, "Luna is staying, Percy. She's a friend of Harry's; she should be allowed to hang out with her other friends."

"Like she even has friends," one Gryffindor snorted, rolling their eyes and glancing around—finding that others were nodding their heads and snorting, at the thought of Luna actually having friends.

"Not to mention that you're kind of being a hypocrite Percy—

"After all, we saw you sneak Penelope up here before a lot."

They all turned their heads, seeing that Fred and George must have snuck towards the stands when they saw Luna Lovegood and were chilling on their brooms—smirks on their freckled faces when they were greeted with giggles and blush filled faces from some of the girls around them.

"Hello Luna—

"We like you, unlike Percy."

Percy frowned at them, as though he was trying to contain his anger but also knowing that they would write to Mum and tell her that Percy was being mean to Luna—which also meant that he was being mean to Harry's newest friend. Molly obviously didn't care that much for Luna but she was still friends with Harry so it still was connected to their family in a way, she didn't want Percy to be rude to anyone who was friends with Harry Potter.

"Fine, sit. Fred, George, you shouldn't be up here. Go. I'm certain that Professor McGonagall is going to throw a fit if she sees you out here before you're even introduced." Percy almost had an evil look on his face at the thought of the woman finding Fred and George doing exactly that—their eyes snapped at each other and gulped before they swooped down and rushed over to where the locker room was for the Gryffindor's.

Luna followed Ron and Hermione to the middle of the wooden bleachers and sat down in the middle of them. She glanced around her, taking in the gaudy crimson and gold blurs and she felt her throat tighten up once more. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, having to remind herself to breathe.

It would be for the best if she didn't pass out during her first time watching a match with Hermione and Ron. She searched through her satchel and brought out some fruit before turning to Ron, he had another happy look on his face as he took some food from her and began to eat. She turned to Hermione and held out some fruit, Hermione thanked her as she quietly grabbed a banana and began to chew on it.

"At least she feeds Ron some healthy snacks," Hermione finally said as she was half way through her banana. Some of the students around them were interested in the fact that Luna had food with her—it seemed as though some of them were hoping that she would give them food.

She would give them food if it weren't for the fact that she didn't feel as though she should. She would have eagerly given them food if it weren't for the fact that the ones that asked her for food were the ones that had agreed with the teenager that had said that she didn't have friends.

She had Mandy Brocklehurst, and Neville Longbottom and Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. She _had _friends here! She did of course have Ginny but she wanted to prove that she could have other friends and here she was sitting with Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

She stood up with the others when Gryffindor was introduced and she smiled goofily when she saw that Harry Potter was speeding out and raising his hand up in a fist as he soaked in the screams of support from almost every House other than Slytherin. Even Ravenclaws seemed to want to have him win instead of Slytherin.

Luna felt excitement spark in her as though she was a match stick that was being lit and she couldn't help but watch enraptured as Harry moved swiftly and perfectly throughout the sky—studying around him to see where he could the snitch. Draco was following behind him, ready for the moment that Harry would actually find the snitch and when Harry did he would always speed next to him—determined to make sure that he could win a match for Slytherin.

Ron was hooting and shouting, telling Harry to beat Malfoy for all that he was worth while Hermione was cheering and getting into the spirit. She might not have cared about Quidditch but when it came to her best friend she would be there for him. Luna just found someone that could interest her when it came to Quidditch and that person happened to be the Gryffindor Seeker—Harry Potter.

In the distance they could hear the booing that came from Slytherin whenever Gryffindor would do something that would outsmart the Slytherins and it made Luna almost smirk at the fact that Gryffindor would obviously win the match. It made her heart proudly swell.

Luna watched with complete fascination and concentration at the sight of the blur of Harry, knowing that she could barely see him due to the fact that his broom was fast. She held her hands together and almost whooped at him swooping down and doing a complicated spin that made Malfoy try to copy but ended up failing completely. He glared at Harry with complete hatred and the boy did nothing more than give him a smirk that let him know that he was better at something.

When Harry finally caught the snitch and held it high above him, Luna couldn't help but jump up and down and scream as loud as she could. Some of the Gryffindor's found it kind of amusing to see that she was getting into Quidditch while others just stared at her as though she had done a handstand on a broomstick in mid flight.

Harry did a victory lap but stopped when he saw the peculiar girl in his House stand. He hovered in front of it and Luna couldn't help but run down the bleachers and reach him. Hermione and Ron followed after her, the both of them congratulating their best friend when it came to a victory against Slytherin (and to Ron, Malfoy).

Harry on the other hand couldn't help but smile when he looked at Luna, "I can't believe you actually came to a game, Luna. I thought that you didn't like Quidditch." Harry couldn't keep the smile off his face.

Luna blushed and shuffled her feet, "when it comes to you I like Quidditch. I might not be enthusiastic like others but you make it better."

"Thanks, Luna. We're having a victory party in Gryffindor tonight, you should come." Harry waved goodbye to everyone before he swooped down and touched down onto the pitch. He followed after his waiting players and they clasped his shoulders and told him that he was fantastic as always.

"You better come, Luna. I might as well come by and pick you up."

Luna glanced over at Hermione, finding that the girl had a somewhat amused look on her face. It seemed as though the interaction with Harry and Luna was kind of cute—she'd never seen Harry get excited to have a girl from another House come to his victory party.

"I have finished my homework." Luna thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "okay. You can come and pick me up. I know that you will be able to access the Common Room easily. We don't have passwords, we have riddles."

Ron scrunched his features together as though he had smelt something horrible while Hermione perked up, she had always liked riddles. "That is much more refreshing than remembering a password. Anyone can remember a password; we need our intelligence tested more than just remembering a password."

"I am certain that you would have done wonderful in Ravenclaw. The Sorting Hat said I would do well in Gryffindor." Luna noted how some people perked up, at hearing what she had just said.

Some of them actually had looks of guilt appear on their faces—the Gryffindor's loved the Sorting Hat, and the thought of him actually almost sorting Luna into Gryffindor meant that they could have been bullying another lioness instead of just another raven (there weren't a lot of Gryffindor's that felt guilty, but there was about five of them).

"Oh, well the Sorting Hat almost put me into Ravenclaw."

Hermione smiled at the memory of her conversation with the Sorting Hat. He was a fascinating piece of magic, she must admit. She was so dazzled and shocked when he began to talk to her and she still marveled at the thought of being put into a House by an actual talking hat that knew your inner workings of your mind.

Eventually everyone left the Gryffindor stand and began to head in their own directions. Luna continued walking with Hermione and Ron—they were telling her random things and she nodded her head while she peered at the random creatures that were surrounding her.

When Luna told Mandy about Harry wanting her to go to the victory party once Mandy had come back to the Common Room with her other friends—well Mandy had squealed in happiness and had dragged her up the stairs and to Luna's dorm. Luna's heart was caught in her throat once again as Mandy went through Luna's different clothes and found the outfit she wanted Luna to wear.

An iridescent spaghetti strap dress that stopped a few inches above her ankles and a simple white turtle necked long sleeve shirt that would be underneath it was chosen for Luna. Luna had forgotten that she had this dress but she had gone to the nearby town and found the bluish green iridescent dress and felt drawn to it.

"I would not wear this but this just screams you. Go change into it. I have some hair lotion that is supposed to make your hair have this pretty ringlet look to it without having to curl your hair." Mandy never looked so excited before and it warmed Luna—wondering if this was what it meant to have another best friend and what it would have been like if she had an older sister.

Changing into her outfit, Luna slipped on some clunky black boots and allowed Mandy to put the lotion into her hair. She could feel the curls began to ring and glancing into a handheld mirror that Mandy had gotten from her own dorm room—Luna widened her eyes at the sight before her.

"Are you sure that I should wear this, Mandy? It's just a victory party," Luna mumbled, her insecurities rising but Mandy nodded her head, "of course! You need to make a statement but in your own style. It's going to catch Harry's attention, I know that for certain."

Luna felt her face flush crimson and she shook her head rapidly, "oh, no, I'm not trying to get his attention. I just am happy to be invited to something for a change."

Mandy gave her a gentle smile before she responded, "come on, I'm certain that the party has already gotten underway."

Mandy walked out of the dorm room and Luna trailed after her, her heart still racing in her chest as she ducked her head down and kept her eyes on her dress. Mandy marched in front of her, the supportive friend that let others know if they thought to stay something rude to Luna they were going to have to get through her first (Hermione hadn't come to pick her up yet).

The walk to the Gryffindor Tower was quiet and Luna could hear the portraits off in the distance commenting on the shininess the dress had and how she looked like that girl that would always stop and talk to them.

Reaching the Gryffindor portrait, Mandy spoke the password and the Fat Lady swung open—obviously she would have resented any Slytherin that would demand to have the portrait opened but there were no Slytherins near her.

Mandy pulled Luna into the Common Room and Luna slowly brought her head up, finding that all the Gryffindor's were mingling around and some of them were dancing to music—but in the middle of the room there happened to be Hermione and Ron and Harry. He was laughing at something they said—shaking his head.

"Stay here. I'm going to go introduce you." Mandy almost had an evil smirk on her face as she left Luna where she was before she went over to where Hermione, Ron, and Harry were. When she reached them they looked up and she said hi before she waved her hand in the direction of where Luna was.

Ron and Harry blinked a few times, having not known that it was their odd friend that was curled together and didn't know how to feel about anything around her. Hermione on the other hand smiled and made her way towards her other friends—not to be rude—but knowing that Luna was probably wanting to see Harry (she also knew that she needed to apologize to Luna for forgetting to pick her up). She did stop though and turn to Ron, "Ron, come here. They found some more food."

Ron automatically began to rush over to where promised food was—all the while Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes, hating how cliché it was that all she had to do was say that there would be food and he would be running in that direction.

Mandy apparently said something to Harry and he blushed before he shook his head but then reached his hand up and rubbed the nape of his neck. He slowly began to make his way to Luna while Mandy headed in the direction of where the Weasley twins were—she always appreciated their pranks.

Harry reached Luna and gave a shy smile, "hi, Luna. You look really pretty. I'm happy that you made it."

Luna's eyes widened and she looked away before she responded, "thank you, Harry. I'm happy that I'm here too."

Luna Lovegood really was happy that Mandy had gotten her out of her comfort zone and here she was—somewhere that people actually wanted her to be for a change.


	25. the torn lady

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**24: **_the torn lady_

**As it would **turn out Hagrid becoming the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher ended up spitting in his face when Buckbeak—his hippogriff that he had found—had scratched Draco Malfoy on the arm when he insulted the animal. Of course all the Slytherins claimed that the animal had gone ballistic on poor Draco Malfoy, but Luna had been expecting something to happen that would be like this.

Nonetheless Luna learnt that she had come to like her semester so far, and she especially liked Professor Lupin. She could tell that he had kind eyes and a soft but painfully hurt soul. She almost wished that she could gather some healing stones and give them to him but she knew that they wouldn't work—whatever aura that the man had made it impossible for simple healing stones to help.

When class was over Luna stayed behind and Professor Lupin looked over in her direction, his eyes patient, "is there something that you need me to go over with you, Miss Lovegood? Or do you just want to talk?"

Luna drifted over to him and smiled up at him, "Hello, professor. I just wanted to let you know that you are one of the few professors here that I feel is doing an excellent job teaching D.A.D.A. It is a shame though that our last two professors did not do a good job, but then again they were faced with troubles that do with Voldemort—"

Professor Lupin flinched and reached his hand out as though to touch her but paused and kept his hand away because he knew that he couldn't touch her. Instead he sighed and spoke, "I don't think that you should say his name, Luna. And before you say that a name does not give power I still think you should respect the fact that others are not comfortable when you speak his name."

Luna paused for a moment only for her already large eyes to widen even more when she realized that he was best friends with Harry's father and he wouldn't like hearing the name that murdered his best friend so freely. "I am sorry, professor. I am so used to being around other teenagers that I forgot that you were friends with Harry's father. I will not call him by his name anymore."

Professor Lupin gave her a small smile before he responded, "thank you, Miss Lovegood. As for what you said before I am so happy that you have come to like the class. I thought that introducing a Boggart would end up making my students hate me but instead they admire me even more."

"You think outside of the box, professor. Depending on the box you either walk out into something that is thought of as insane or brilliant. I fall in the first category; you fall in the second in my opinion." Luna would have shrugged her shoulders if she had cared to but she didn't, she just used her dreamy voice instead.

"I must get going now. I don't want to be late for my next class." Luna spun on her heels and was about to leave entirely when she heard him call her name behind her. She moved back into her original position and waited for what he was going to say.

"Harry is lucky to have you as a friend, Luna. He needs more people like you."

Luna quietly thanked him before she left the classroom and headed for her next class, which happened to be Herbology. She quite liked Herbology; she knew that her mum adored Herbology.

She didn't expect though to be heading to lunch after her class and be stopped by Harry, who had a sweet smile upon his lips. She furled her eyebrows but he spoke before she could ask him why he was looking at her like that.

"I ran into Professor Lupin earlier. He told me that I'm lucky to have you as a friend and that I'd be stupid to let you go." Harry reached his hand up and ran his fingers through his hair before he blushed some more. "Just like I normally think, I think that he's right."

"Oh." Luna felt her face become hotter and she looked away before she looked at him again, "thank you, Harry. That means a lot to me. I've never had someone care that much about me. The only people that have cared about me are my daddy and my mum along with Ginny."

"Well they should care about you more. You're just as important as anyone else." Harry brought his hand out and placed it on her shoulder. "Just remember that, Luna. Come on, let's get something to eat."

Luna didn't sit with them for lunch, despite the fact that they looked as though they were going to ask her if she wanted to sit with them. She liked watching them from afar when she was in the Great Hall—because not only could she see them acting as naturally as they could with each other but she also could sit with Mandy and listen to her tell her about how boring her classes were.

Eventually though the end of October came and Halloween was here—Luna thought that the holiday cursed the castle because something always happened during Halloween in Hogwarts. When Harry started school he ended up having a Troll come and attack the school (it also opened up his friendship with Hermione Granger), but second year for him was the beginning of the Chamber of Secrets.

Dressed in the same outfit as she wore last year, Luna hummed as she walked around and greeted those around her—sometimes pausing as some Aribta Comatti's drifted towards her and hovered around her, dancing around in little twirls. They were creatures that were made of pure light—apparently they would transform into their true form whenever they were around those they trusted.

Luna had never seen their true form, though she had always told them that they could trust her. She knew that it must have been because they just didn't want to show their true form and it wasn't just about trust. They must have just enjoyed being little globs of light that drifted around her.

"Hello, I haven't seen you around lately." Luna reached out her hand and let her palm face them—a wash of warmth hit her skin when one of them touched her palm. She gasped as though she was being submerged into hot bathwater.

Harry had said that he had homework to do (he always waited until the last minute it seemed to do homework), and she had invited him into the Ravenclaw Tower. He was coming in about thirty minutes and she was already at the end of the spiral staircase that led up to the Common Room.

"Luna? What are you doing?"

Luna glanced behind her, finding that Harry was standing there with his arms crossed on his chest and an eyebrow arched up in amusement. "Oh, a few Aribta Comatti's have come to say hello. They are orbs of light; they **_have_** a true form though those who have seen their true form are long passed. Sadly even Newt Scamander hasn't seen their true form at all."

"That's a shame then. Anyway, I got finished up earlier so want to go up?" Harry had his leather messenger bag with him that had his parchment paper, quill and ink bottle, along with some books.

"Of course, Harry." Luna spun on her heels and began to head up the staircase with Harry trailing behind him. They reached the door and the knocker asked his riddle.

"**_I am rarely touched but often held, if you are smart you'll use me well. What am I?_**"

****Luna turned to Harry and probed, "what do you think it is, Harry? I quite like riddles and Hermione said that she likes them too."

Harry frowned and shook his head, "Sorry, Luna but I don't know. I'm not really into riddles."

Luna turned back around, "you are a tongue."

The door opened and Luna smoothly made her way into the beautiful navy blue, silver and gold themed circular Common Room. Harry's breath got stuck his throat at the astronomic feel that he got when he entered and his shoes touched the navy blue carpet. She moved easily, and he followed her as though she knew where landmines were and he needed to follow her exact footsteps.

That might also have to do with the fact that there were students that were in the Common Room and they were staring at him as though he had grown a third head and really did claim that he was the heir of Slytherin. "Hey, guys."

"What is he doing here, Lovegood?" One of the upper years sneered at Harry, which in return allowed Harry to know clearly that the girl didn't like him.

"Oh, I invited Harry here. He needed to finish some homework so I told him to come up here. Let's go over here, Harry." Luna almost skipped over to one of the vacant wooden study tables were—this one was the closest to the windows that looked out towards the Forbidden Forest.

Harry sat down across from her and pulled out his parchments and books, Luna glanced at them before she opened her crotched colorful satchel and pulled out a Magizoolgist magazine that came from America. She often loved to subscribe to all of the Magizoolgist magazines that she could.

It was called Myth Monthly and had focused entirely on a new Magizoolgist every month, one that barley had been known to begin with. She loved how they had a list of the ones that would give out their numbers so that wizards and witches could call them and ask questions if they wanted to.

It was also one of her dreams to be on that magazine and possibly eventually even become the editor in time. She didn't see herself living in U.K. all her life—she wanted to travel and create her own adventures outside of her home country.

Harry asked her questions and she answered them truthfully, telling him things that she knew and not knowing others. She wasn't ashamed of not knowing everything but she was smart and she always loved to read some of the chapters for next year.

This had to have been one of the nicest afternoons that Luna had experienced in Hogwarts so far. She got to spend the afternoon with Harry and help him with whatever homework she knew and could just absorb herself in being in the same place with him without feeling as though they had to leave soon.

"I'll see you later, Luna. Thanks for the help." Harry shot her a warm smile before he walked out of the Common Room. The door shut behind him and she couldn't help but smile dreamily—wait no she always smiled dreamily—this was just a lot more dreamily than usual.

It wouldn't be until she was woken to someone shaking her awake in the middle of the night that she discovered that the Fat Lady had been torn and that she had fleeted from her own portrait. Luna felt as though she had swallowed her lungs as she jumped out of her bed and began to rush towards the dorm door so that she could head down and through the Common Room door—she needed to check and make sure that Harry was all right.

"Luna, you need to stop! You aren't allowed to leave yet. We have to go down to the Great Hall; they're thinking that it's Sirius Black and that he had finally come here to find Harry Potter."

Luna turned, seeing that it was Cho Chang that was standing in front of her with soft features and her hands out—as though she was trying to calm her down even though she was a few feet from her. Luna couldn't feel calmness though—she knew that she would calm down once she was in the presence of Harry again.

The wait for them to go down to the Great Hall was too long for Luna even though it could have only been five minutes. When they were all told to be in a straight file and alphabetized and separated into their own year Luna felt her heart begin to beat rapidly in her chest again.

She knew that Harry was strong, that he was braver than one could imagine he ever could be. He didn't ask to be this brave though, to be this strong. It was all thrust upon him when he was just an infant.

She felt her fingers began to twirl together as she headed down the spiral staircase and down the different corridors. She could tell that Olympe De Gouges was shaking where she was but when she saw that her students were safe from Ravenclaw Tower she loosened her shakes and managed to give them a shaky smile.

Once they reached the large staircase that led down to the front entrance of the school, Luna scanned everywhere in order to see if she could find Harry. There were too many students to count and all the teachers were loaming around them—determined to restore power if necessary.

The only House that wasn't as strongly terrified as the others were the Slytherins and they were loaming off to the side—bored in their green and silver silk pajamas. Draco Malfoy was leaning against one of the walls and he arched his eyebrow up when he noted that Luna was peering at him.

Luna tore her eyes away from him and stopped when she saw the familiar face of Harry standing near Neville and Ron and Hermione. He still had this look on his face as though he didn't believe what just happened.

"Harry!"

Luna hadn't expected for her to scream his name but when she heard that it was her voice she was shocked. She hurried down the stairs anyway, avoiding those that were trying to grab her arm and pull her back to her House.

Harry snapped his head in her direction, "Luna? Luna!"

Luna knew that she was a mess—with her wavy hair all in a disarray and her mismatched pajama ensemble that was in a trademark unflattering hue, but when did Luna care what she wore or how she looked?  
She continued forward and when she reached Harry she couldn't help but throw her arms around him and squeezed him as hard as she could. Around her they could hear whispers and mutters, wondering if what they were witnessing was actually happening.

"You're okay. Thank Merlin you're okay."

Luna let herself bask in the feel of Harry's arms around her as he tried to calmly tell her that everything was all right. She almost lost one friend; she couldn't imagine losing Harry and the others.


	26. lion & badger

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**25: **_lion & badger_

**Cho Chang obviously **loved talking about her new boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, due to many things. One of those things being that Cedric was on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and the other thing was that he was the captain.

He was a fifth year, while Cho Chang was a fourth year. She was insanely happy all the time, sitting and having debates with her dashingly good looking boyfriend that had kind eyes and soft looking hair and chiseled cheekbones.

Thankfully Mandy didn't see what there really was to admire when it came to Cedric—she did like checking him out though.

"I mean he's nice to look at, he's good eye candy but that's about it," Mandy had told her when Cedric had come up to sit near the fireplace with Cho—both girls were sitting off to the side on Luna's quilt, reading their magazines that they were subscribed to.

Apparently Mandy's aunt was subscribed to Myth Monthly too. She didn't love Magizoolgists as much as Luna loved them but she still thought that they were interesting enough to be subscribed to them.

Today though was the match of Gryffindor against Hufflepuff. Luna would have been excited to go down and watch the match if it weren't for the fact that the weather outside was dreadful and she wasn't in the mood to go down and get wet from the wind. So instead she decided that she should stay in.

Thankfully Mandy had decided to stay inside the Common Room too. She had had Professor Snape today for D.A.D.A, since Professor Lupin had been out and was informed about werewolves. She thought it was more like she was having the information being shoved down her throat and that if anyone connected the dots with werewolves and Professor Lupin they would get a gold star.

"I would not be surprised if he is a werewolf."

Luna looked up from her magazine and peered at her best friend—Luna was the one who had made that statement, not Mandy. No one else had decided to stay in the Common Room so it was just her and Mandy, the both of them still sitting on the quilt. The match had already begun and Luna could hear the rattling outside from the wind and rain beating against the glass windows.

"I feel sorry if he really is a werewolf. It would explain why he's tired all the time and he has all those scars. I still think that he's dreamy though. He's very handsome, I think you'd agree, wouldn't you, Luna?" Mandy shot Luna a smirk and the girl blushed but nodded her head.

"Yes, I found him very handsome when I met him on the train. Of course I could not get to know him that well due to the Dementors." Luna did shiver at the memory of those horrible things loaming in the compartment and almost sucking her soul right out of her, it felt like she'd be just there but barely in the end.

"I still can't believe that happened though. I heard that Dumbledore was livid when that happened and told Fudge that if he ever did that again that he would reign down fury on him and the Ministry like no other." Mandy quite liked Dumbledore—there were still things that she questioned when it came to the old wizard but she still liked him all the same.

Luna had mixed feelings about him, now. She did admire him, she thought that his accomplishments in the past were amazing but now in her second year at Hogwarts she noticed how different he was in person. She didn't know if she liked how he was in real life than just hearing about him.

"I saw my mum die all over again." Luna had a far away look on her face, much more far away than she normally did. It made Mandy have her heart clench in her chest and she reached out to touch her hand.

"Hey, it's okay. You said that it's been three years, yeah?"

Mandy sat her magazine off to the side—ignoring the moving photograph that was on the cover of said magazine. It was from some random wizarding Italian magazine that had to do with high end fashion (the side of her family that was Muggles were actually well off—they were high middle class).

"Yes, the first year was difficult. As it always is when someone loses someone that they love, dearly, it makes a hole in their heart. I don't think that I'll ever fully recover from the death of my mum. She was an excellent potion maker, one of the best in Scotland. She died from an explosion though, she had put two wrong ingredients together and the whole lab in our house exploded. I watched her burn alive and there was nothing I could do."

Luna had looked away the whole entire time, not wanting to look at Mandy; she flinched as she remembered her mum's death and took shaky breaths before she turned to look at Mandy. "Harry had memories of that night that changed everything. That is all that I am going to say, I know that he doesn't like to talk about it and I'm not going to lose his trust over that."

Mandy didn't have to know what had happened. She had heard from Malfoy shortly after the train incident that he expected Harry to see his dead mum or something of that sort and how he should have stayed with her because he'd actually have a mum then, and it had made Mandy extremely mad. She wasn't that hot tempered but when it came to insensitive things she wanted to hit something or _someone_.

"I think that's considerate of you, Luna. Not that many people are like that now-a-days. They tell other people's businesses like it's their own. You can trust me when it comes to me not telling anyone about what had happened to your mum."

Luna noticed how the model on the cover of the high end Italian fashion magazine was moving sideways and flipping her head up so that they could notice the diamond necklace that she wore with true gold or the sparkly white fuzzy long sleeve sweater that had crimson and emerald jewels sewn on the neckline of the sweater (apparently it wasn't too early for them to be showing off their Christmas outfits).

"Out of any of the models that have to have attention on them all the time from the subscribers it has to be Carmella Ricci. She's so vain it's not even funny." Mandy pushed the magazine further away, only for Carmella to gasp and flip her hair as she turned away from them—apparently she was insulted.

She had the strong Italian features—the rather large nose, but big doe like brown eyes and long brown wavy hair. Her oil skin looked beautiful with the white sweater but there was nothing that really grabbed any attention for Luna.

"She must have been told that she was beautiful at a very young age. It was imprinted into her mind and she was always told that she had to bring honor to the family for her good looks and potential money she'd earn if she became a model. It is a shame that some people have to rely on their looks instead of their brains and who they are inside." Luna grabbed the magazine and Carmella glanced over her shoulder—as though she was still upset.

"We are very sorry that we have ignored you Carmella. I am certain that you must be beautiful in your own way." Luna noticed how the woman (she looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties) seemed to accept the apology and turn so that she was posing again, this time with a more confident pose.

Luna sat down the cover and Carmella sat down on the stool that was on the cover, crossing her legs and just sitting there. Apparently she knew that they weren't going to be using the magazine so she kept to herself—the magazine was obviously a witch high end fashion magazine that was called Fascino Incantato (Enchanted Glamour).

"You know I have to say I'm kind of surprised that Hermione decided to stick it out when it came to weather outside today. Then again she's always been like a mother hen for the lads, hasn't she?" Mandy looked at her books that were off to the side—they were American witch young adult romances.

"Yes, Hermione is a mother hen to them. She wants what is best for them; after all, they are her first true friends. She was alone for the longest time due to the fact that she is very smart and sometimes bossy." Luna glanced down at her cover of her magazine again, smiling as she saw that it had Newt Scamander's grandson, Rolf, on the cover with his arms crossed together and an amused smile on his lips.

Luna thought that he was dreamy, he was lightly tanned with warm brownish golden eyes and soft but strong cheekbones and messy dark brown hair that fell a little further on the nape of his neck.

He was muscular, not too bad, and he was wearing clothes similar to that of Indiana Jones (yes, Luna did know of the adventurer. She had watched the movies on the television set that Mr. Weasley had rented from someone in town for a short while with Ginny and her dad—Molly was not amused at the sight of the television set).

"Ah, who's this? He's quite handsome." Mandy giggled as Luna looked up from the cover, where Rolf was smiling up at Luna with a soft smile. He still had a tinge of amusement on his lips though—as though he really was here and he thought that it was cute that Luna thought he was handsome.

"He is New Scamander's grandson, Rolf. He just debuted for the magazine and was at a zoo for witches and wizards that had some of his grandfather's discoveries. Of course they are not as contained as Muggle ones. They do have gates but they have a lot more room than one could imagine."

Mandy scrunched her nose back, "Rolf? Really, his grandson's name is Rolf? Then again his name is Newt…"

Luna pushed the magazine away from her, despite the fact that the girlie side of her could sit there and stare at him for as long as she wanted and she could still not count all the freckles on his face.

"A lot of the students here at Hogwarts have odd names. A lot of them happen to be Slytherins though…I think it must be a pureblood thing."

"At least your mum didn't give you some strange name, I mean you're a pureblood and your parents weren't insane enough to name you something stupid. By the way, what family does your mum belong to you, if you don't mind telling me."

Mandy's magic side of the family happened to be just normal witches and wizards—they weren't purebloods (obviously—she'd be treated differently if that side of her family were purebloods) but they made good money and that was all that mattered to Mandy.

Luna's eyes snapped up to her brunette friend, as coldness settled in her veins and she remembered _who _she was related to. She didn't want anyone to know who she was related to, her daddy didn't even know who her mum's real family was (her mum had been given up as a baby and had been raised by an average income wizarding family). Luna hadn't even been told who she was related to until a few months before her mum had died.

She didn't know what to say and thankfully she didn't have the chance to think of anything to say when they heard the sound of the Common Room door opening and they turned their heads—seeing that there were sopping wet students that were piling into the Common Room with shakiness.

"D-Dementors, they w-were everywhere," a first year managed to stutter out before they felt arms wrap around them so that the person that owned those arms could comfort them.

Apparently it was one of the sixth or seventh years that were comforting the first year, it was known that there were always a few girls that were about to graduate Hogwarts and wanted to be like mothers for the first years so that they could go to them and cry and release their sadness.

Luna on the other hand shot up from her spot on the quilt and looked around desperately but was surprised when she noticed that Cho was walking into the room with Cedric's scarf wrapped around her neck still. She let her eyes land on Luna and she headed over to her and placed her hands on Luna's shoulders.

"Everyone is okay, Luna. I told Cedric I'd visit him later, because he and the others _are _okay. Just a little shaken up, but that's it. Harry is being checked by Madam Pomfrey right now." Cho shot her a gentle smile and Luna had to let her shoulders slump before she nodded her head.

"Thank you, Cho. Do you think that I'll have the chance to go see him?" Luna peered up at the girl again; the oriental dark haired girl paused for a moment and then looked down at Luna.

"He needs his rest, probably, Luna. I'm certain that tomorrow he'll be happy to see you but for now he needs to get some sleep. I can't imagine what it would be like to be around Dementors, much less while on a broomstick."

Luna slumped once more and glanced behind her, finding that Mandy had gotten up from the quilt (some of the girls in Ravenclaw actually liked Luna's quilt and asked her if she had bought it or made it), and that her friend was heading in her direction with gentle eyes too.

"Cho is right, Luna. That's one thing that you need to learn. Your friends know that you care about them but there's also the fact that you don't want to feel as though you're being annoying and that you have to be a mother hen for them. I'm certain that Hermione is being a mother hen right now. You're not his mum and he doesn't feel the need to have to be lectured at the moment—not that you'd do that. He'll be happy when he sees you in the morning, I can promise you that."

Luna nodded her head, digesting the words and knowing for sure that it was probably for the best that she would do what the girls advised her to do. She thanked Cho quietly for informing what had happened to Harry before she walked over to the quilt again. She sat down and Mandy came over before she sat down next to Luna.

"Why don't you show me the article that has Rolf mentioned in it? I wouldn't be surprised if the whole magazine is about him this month." Mandy watched as Luna gave a half smile before she reached out and took her magazine.

Mandy glanced over at the girls that were wanting to look at her own magazine and told them it was okay for them to read it—Carmella Ricci looked absolutely delighted to have a new group of adolescent girls admire her and the clothes that she modeled within said magazine.

Luna flipped to the article that talked about Rolf and began to tell her about his grandfather's accomplishments and then the new found accomplishments that Rolf had—which in return made him be in the magazine.

Outside the rain continued to beat down on the glass windows and the wind still stirred but Luna was starting to learn how to be a true friend.


	27. Pandora Lovegood

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**26:**_ Pandora Lovegood_

**As it would **turn out Luna didn't go to Harry, instead he had searched for her.

She had been sitting at one of the stone window seats that were around the castle with her arms wrapped around her and her quilt hanging in a cocoon around her shoulders.

Her hair was messy today, falling in disarray with her trusty wand tucked behind her ear. She hadn't wanted to pester Harry when she had woken up—she knew that he needed to recover from the Dementors and she hoped that he had gone to Professor Lupin so that he could get some chocolate bars from him. Even if the professor was a werewolf she saw no problems with him.

She knew that most werewolves didn't ask to be bitten and those who wanted to be bitten were strange in her opinion. She saw no reason why someone would want to suffer with lycanthropy, nor did she see why the Ministry had to be racist towards the race as a whole.

"Luna?"

Luna turned her head away from the window, it was a misty morning and she peered at the Forbidden Forest in the distance. A part of her always wanted to go into the forest but another part of her found no reason to do so. Sometimes the explorer in her didn't know when to stop.

"Harry?" Luna craned her head to the side, as she noticed that Harry stood in front of her with just a navy blue jumper and dark washed jeans, and worn out sneakers on. His jumper looked too big on him—baggy and not in a good way. Luna could see that it was clearly a hand-me-down and that his cousin, Dudley, was a quite large boy.

"I wanted to talk about something with you. I know that you had a bad experience from the Dementors on the train and I wanted to know what happened to your mum, but I understand if you don't want to talk about her." Harry made his way completely to her and she sat upright so that she was leaning against the window. She patted the spot next to her and he sat down.

Pulling the quilt so that it could cover him too Luna didn't hesitative to lean her head against his shoulder. She sighed and began to speak, "My mum was a wonderful mother and she was a wonderful wife. She often said that she knew that everyone had a soulmate and that they sometimes might not be able to meet them but she was lucky enough to meet hers and have me…

"People say I look just like her, even her far away look in her eyes. She loved me even when I was born with this gift to see creatures that no one else can see. I have yet to meet someone who can see them too…" Luna looked down and stared at the silhouettes on the stone walls and floors.

"I am not sad about this anymore, as much as I long to have some see them too I am okay if no one else sees them…my daddy was too naïve when it came to believing in my creatures, even some that I have not met or seen. I know that there are some out there that don't exist and I am not ashamed of that. I am after creative and open minded, unlike most people I know.

"My mum was very talented at Potions, and she was a good student here at Hogwarts. Both of my parents were in Ravenclaw and my daddy's family is known for having Ravenclaws, sometimes Hufflepuffs. We aren't that very known for having any Gryffindor's though…we aren't that brave."

"Hermione said that you told her that the Sorting Hat would have put you in Gryffindor. That means that you're brave." Harry craned his head to the side and Luna smiled up at him, "yes, I suppose that I am brave. I have yet to have it tested other than me standing up for my beliefs."

Luna noted that there were not any portraits that were close to her and Harry, and those who listened to her and Harry's conversation were shot with warning looks from other paintings. They knew that it was best to let this conversation be alone and be secretive; they knew that Harry Potter was fiercely protective of his friends but it was mostly directed towards Luna.

"She walked around the forest with me when I was little. We would look around and we would see different creatures and I would tell her about them. I know that she didn't believe in the creatures that I see, but that is okay. She loved me for who I was and I am grateful for that…

"Then one day she had found two ingredients she hadn't seen before. She had known of them, of course, but she hadn't walked this far into the forest. She plucked them and she told me that she was going to make a new potion, something that she could sell and I was excited…" Luna drifted off again and looked down at her hands, she felt Harry's hands reach out and take hers.

"If you want to stop at anytime, just know that you can. I don't want to force you into telling me anything," Harry told her and she nodded her head, "I know Harry, but I feel safe telling you this."

Luna was telling the truth—he did make her feel safe.

"Mum wouldn't let me stay in the lab, but she allowed me to stand in the doorway and I stayed there every time that she made something. The only problem this time was that she was the naïve one. She mixed up the ingredients, crushed them and put them into the cauldron…at first there was nothing that was wrong.

"Then it happened, the cauldron blew up and my mum caught on fire. I had screamed but I stayed still, petrified at what I was seeing. My mum began to scream in agony and she slowly burnt to death. I can still smell the lab, and I—"

Luna felt tears begin to appear and she hiccupped as she knew that she couldn't continue anymore. She threw her arms around Harry and began to let out all the agony that she felt throughout these three years. Her mum had died a few weeks after Luna's ninth birthday; it was near her mum's birthday too.

"You're okay, Luna. I'm here, I'm here."

Harry rocked her back and forth and tightened his arms around her, as though he was going to make sure that no one could ever come close enough to Luna when she was this fragile. He instantly hated the part of him that asked about her mum.

"The worst thing was that my mum wasn't the only person that I saw. My daddy couldn't live without my mum. He had drunk some poisonous potion but he hadn't drunk enough to die. I watched him have a seizure instead," Luna quietly confessed this time, as her voice became hoarse from her crying.

Harry stayed still this time. He was too little to remember his parents being murdered by Voldemort. Sure he had the green light that had murdered his parents and almost killed him (but didn't) and he heard his mum's screams but he had not seen his mum and dad drop dead.

He hadn't seen his mum burn to death due to an accidental potion that went wrong and he didn't see his dad try to commit suicide in absolute sadness at the thought of his wife actually being dead.

Luna felt tiredness begin to wash over her, because they always said that you'd get tired after crying. She also felt congestion begin to appear and she cleared her throat some, making a funny face from the yucky feeling that came. She pulled her head off of Harry's shoulder because she knew if she stayed any longer like that she would fall asleep on him.

"I'm tired, Harry. I think that I'm going back to take a nap in my dorm." Luna began to get up only for her to feel his hand touch hers again. She looked behind her, seeing that he had a bashful look on his face before he looked away.

"I know that your House doesn't respect you, Luna. I know that only Cho Chang and Mandy Brocklehurst like you. I was thinking that you could come to the Gryffindor Common Room and take a nap? I mean no one will bother you." Harry kept looking away from her, not knowing if she would accept his offer.

Luna blinked some and then blushed, her eyes going doe eyed. "Oh, that's very sweet of you, Harry. Yes, I accept your offer. I'll come take a nap," Luna got up from her spot and still kept the quilt over the both of them. Harry smiled some and pulled her closer to him so that she could still be leant against him.

No one said anything when they passed by them, though when they saw Professor Lupin walk past them he blinked a few times and shook his head—amused at the sight before him. He only said, "Have a good rest of the day."

Harry turned to him and smiled at him, "thanks, Professor Lupin, you too."

Luna could tell that there was complete happiness in Harry, at the knowledge that someone that was best friends with his dad was working at Hogwarts—they knew that Professor Snape hated Harry's dad and made it a living hell for Harry because everything that he did was never good enough for him.

"I quite like him, even if he might be a werewolf," Luna commented idly, only for Harry to look at her with furled eyebrows. "Just because he is a werewolf it doesn't mean that he's a bad guy. He just was cursed that's all."

"How do you know that he's a werewolf? I mean isn't that a little out there?" Harry asked her, he was patient though and Luna peered up at him with those unblinking eyes, "I think that you should look over the chapter of werewolves again, Harry. Then study Professor Lupin. I know that if he is a werewolf that doesn't mean that you should be afraid of him. You may tell him that you know if you wish but do not pity him, Harry. He already hates himself as it is."

Luna leant her head against his arm again, her eyes looking forward again. They could see some of the women in the portraits were raising their hands and placing them on their chests before awing at the cute sight before them. Harry shuffled closer, wanting nothing more than to get the Gryffindor Tower and away from these women that would say that they were a cute couple.

Harry was only thirteen! He wasn't ready to be in a relationship even though he thought that Luna was pretty in her own way and he liked how she thought about things and how she had just confined in him something that she probably never told someone so detailing, so open to him.

She laid herself bare for him to see, to see her sadness and her pain and he still was there for her.

Harry didn't say anything else about Professor Lupin but took what Luna said and tucked it away in the corner of his mind. He didn't really like studying but he was beginning to think of Professor Lupin as someone who he could love like a father and it made him both guilty but happy at the same time.

When they reached Gryffindor Tower, Harry mumbled the password even though the portrait that was in the place of the Fat Lady was an annoying knight that didn't know when to shut up. Harry had shot him a warning look and the knight opened up, as though knowing that Harry was _not _in the mood to deal with him.

Entering the Common Room everyone looked up and then away, knowing that they were bound to see something like this eventually. Luna was already about to fall asleep and he was going to head over to the couch only for Hermione to get up from where she was sitting with Parvati.

"Harry Potter you are not seriously thinking of sitting Luna down in here so that she could fall asleep? I can take her to my dorm so that she can have a proper place to sleep. You can hand me the quilt too." Hermione reached her hand out as though to await the quilt and Harry sighed before he handed it to her.

"Luna, 'Mione is going to take you to her dorm so that you can sleep, okay? I'll be down here if you need me." Harry pulled away from Luna even though she groaned and went to lean against him again.

She was so very tired.

She wanted to stay in Harry's arms as long as possible. She hadn't felt this happiness in a long time—she hadn't felt this warmth and she hadn't felt this peace since her mum had died.

"T-thank you, Harry," she managed to mumble before Hermione reached out and grabbed her hand. Luna followed after the older girl and gave a tired smile towards the Weasley twins and Ron when they told her to have a good nap. She had to come to like them a lot—almost as though they were brothers to her.

Percy was no where to be seen (last she had heard he was trying to have some dates with Penelope but they were already too busy as it was—they were both Head Boy and Head Girl of their own Houses).

As they headed up the stairs Luna didn't pay attention to anyone else. Lavender Brown passed her and she studied her for a second before she began to head down the stairs—apparently there was nothing interesting about Luna for her to stop her and tell her that she needed to leave or she was happy to see her.

Reaching the girls' third year dormitory, Hermione opened the door and Luna followed in after her. The room was completely in the hues of gold and crimson. Luna liked her colors better—they were more relaxing in her opinion and softer. She didn't like the harsh colors around her.

"You can take my bed, if you want, Luna. I'll be downstairs and make sure that no one will come bother you." Hermione pulled back the covers of her bed and Luna climbed in before Hermione pulled the covers up over her and then put her quilt over them.

"Have a nice nap, Luna." Hermione closed the curtains and walked out of the dorm room before she shut the door behind her.

Luna leant against the pillows and tried to get comfortable. The sheets were very nice though, she had to admit. It didn't take long to fall asleep and when she did, well she did something that she rarely did—she had no dreams.


	28. Christmas of 93

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**27:**_ Christmas of 93_

**Both Mandy and **Neville sat in the same compartment with Luna on the way back to King's Cross so that they could go home for the holidays.

Neville was excited due to the fact that he could check on his rare winter flowers that could only blossom and thrive in winter along with actually getting to spend some time with Gran. Augusta Longbottom would be waiting for her grandson and he said that although she was strict that there were moments that she expressed how much she loved him and told him that he meant the world to her.

Luna was of course sitting against the window with her signature quilt wrapped around her. She could hear the shuffling down the aisles from Prefects that were checking to make sure that their house mates were fine.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas this year. Luna wasn't that surprised to be honest—she knew that Harry would not want to go back to Privet Drive and be in the company of Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Cousin Dudley. Ron was staying behind so that he could be with Harry and Hermione probably just wanted to stay this year and be with them so she did.

Luna was wearing a green jumper with dark washed jeans and a pair of hiking boots that were originally her mum's (her mum traveled the world for a year before she had gotten married to Luna's daddy), along with having her wand tucked behind her right ear. She didn't have anything special on; she was just dressed in the Christmas spirit.

Snow cascaded from the milky grey skyline and Luna hummed lightly under her breath throughout the train ride. Mandy was reading a book that she had brought with her and Neville was curled up at the end of the bench opposite of Luna with Trevor chilling on his stomach—ribbiting every now and then.

When they reached King's Cross Luna gathered her astronomy painted case and hopped off of the bench that she had been lying on (she had to use it as a step stool in a way to get her case from the rack), before she waited for Mandy and Neville to get their suitcases too.

Once they had their things they walked out of the compartment and began to make their way to one of the exit doors. In the far front Luna could see Draco Malfoy moving about, his shimmering light blond hair still gleaming from the low sunlight today. She reached her fingers up and ran her fingers through her own hair—this was one thing that she didn't like.

She didn't like how her shade of hair easily resembled Draco Malfoy's shade of blond. She didn't want anyone to think that they were related.

As though he felt her eyes on him, Draco glanced over his shoulder and let his eyes flicker over the students that he hovered over. None of them caught his attention except for Luna Lovegood—who was staring at his hair and then her hand that held pieces of her own hair with absolute fear. He knew what she was thinking, and he inwardly rolled his eyes at the fact that she was being dramatic before he spun around and smoothly exited the train with his head tilted up.

"Ignore him, Luna. I don't know what's wrong, but ignore it. What ever you're comparing yourself to when it comes to Malfoy it's not true. You're nothing like that prick." Trevor sat on top of Neville's head—sitting on his floppy eared winter hat (the inside was real fur) and the outside was a deep navy blue.

"Thanks, Neville. I'll remember that." Luna turned back around and walked off of the train when they reached out of the exits. Her feet touched the concrete train station ground and within seconds she felt arms wrap around her and squeeze.

"Luna! You're home!" Ginny cheered. She pulled away and Luna peered down at the girl—seeing that she was wearing the Weasley Christmas sweater that her mum would always make each year for said holiday. It had her first letter of her name stitched in—a personal touch.

"I am happy to see you, Ginny. I miss you too." Luna hugged her back and then picked up her suitcase and began to head in the direction of where her daddy was. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing next to him and he was eagerly telling them things—both red heads looked absolutely lost at what the older man was saying but were trying to be polite (they had their own trademark tight lip smile towards her daddy).

Ginny had grabbed Luna's hand again and began to speak, "I know that you sent Amite to me two weeks ago for me to safe keep her before you come home but when Errol saw another owl in the house stay for a prolonged amount of time he got jealous. Amite put him in his place though."

It was quite funny to see their ancient family owl trying to be threatening only for Amite to hit him with one of her wings as though to tell him that he wasn't doing a great job at it and to stop.

Even Mrs. Weasley had smiled at the sight before she had cleared her throat and turned away, so that she could continue making lunch for her husband when it came to tomorrow.

This was the only time after all that Mrs. Weasley could actually make lunches ahead of schedule—when summer came she'd sometimes forget to pack something for Arthur and would feel bad for him (she'd often pile his plate with more food than he could eat for dinner and give him extra sweets to make up for it).

Reaching her daddy and Ginny's parents, Luna stopped and sat the suitcase down before she threw her arms around her daddy. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her—as thought to let her know that he missed her dearly, "ah, my sweet little Aribta Comatti, how are you?"

Luna beamed, "Oh, I am quite all right, Daddy! I have a total of five friends, maybe six by the end of the year. I never thought I'd have so many!"

Xenophilius beamed back at her, "ah! Marvelous, my Luna! I am so proud of you. Professor Flitwick had sent me his monthly evaluation of you and said that you are at the top of his students!"

Molly and Arthur Weasley stood off to the side—as they studied the two member family a part of them knew that it was wrong to judge how they lived. They weren't lucky like Molly and Arthur were—they both had aunts and uncles and siblings so that their children would still be able to stay in the family if anything were to happen to them (thank Merlin nothing had so far!) but all that Luna had was Xenophilius after Pandora had died.

Xenophilius was a wonderful father, don't get them wrong. It was just that he wasn't the best at being a father all the time. Luna was always independent—but they were worried that they'd have to step in the first year that Pandora had died and take Luna away from him so that she could stay with them for awhile, only because he wasn't able to function that properly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I was wondering if I could come over on Christmas Day and give Ginny her present. I know that it would mean a lot to her."

Luna peered up at them and in the corner of their sight both parents could see that Ginny was smiling again at the thought of her best friend coming on Christmas Day and giving Ginny her present then and there and not just send it.

"That would be fine," Mr. Weasley finally said and Luna smiled as Ginny hugged her dad, pleased that Luna _could_ come over.

Luna spent the next few days brushing out Amite and making sure that she was pretty, she seemed as though she was pleased to be with her owner again. She did though look well cared for and Luna could see that she liked Ginny, which to Luna meant the whole world to her. She wanted her owl to like her friends.

Her daddy was always upstairs, working on The Quibbler and writing letters to those who said that they knew things going on in the Ministry that no one else knew about. They did have well connected sources in the Ministry—Mr. Waterborne had connections that still surprised the Lovegoods.

Today was Christmas, finally, and Luna was wearing an emerald dress that had long sleeves and a square neckline. She wore white and red vertical striped tights (yes she knew that it was supposed to be horizontal but Luna couldn't care less if the stripes were supposed to be in another direction) along with a small necklace that had two little bells on them—one red and another green.

She didn't expect though to head downstairs and find a sleek looking owl sitting on her kitchen table with his head tilted up. Her heart raced in her chest as she slowly approached the owl, having an idea who the owl belonged to. It peered at her with a look that let her know it didn't care for her but still was here because its owner told him to be here.

There was a small package with the owl and Luna wearily approached the owl. She took a deep breath and took the box from it. It hooted and flew off through the open window (she must have forgotten to close it all the way last night before she had gone off to bed).

Shutting the window, Luna went back to the table and sat down before she opened the letter that was taped to the box and read what it said.

_Dear Luna,_

_ My mother has finally given me permission to write to you, she knows that it would be best that I stay anonymous—we both know who the other is though. I know that this is surprising to have me give an interest in writing to you but you __**are **__family and my parents have taught me that family comes first._

_ I didn't know what to get you for Christmas so I asked my mother. She thought that what she had picked out for you for me to give to you would be fine. I think that she is nervous though, she never got to know your mother and she wants to let you know that she would have loved you all the same._

_ I am happy that your mother was not raised in my mother's household. It is not fit for anyone to be raised in my household._

_ So within this box I have your Christmas present. I want you to hide it well, and not allow your father to see it. He knows not of us and if he finds out who we are or if we have had contact with each other he will regret it._

_ I hope that you appreciate the present._

_ Your cousin_

Luna dropped the letter on the table and felt her heart race. She never thought that he would write to her, and she didn't want to think about her aunt. She knew that her mother came from a demented family and she really didn't want to open the box in case she was greeted with something that could eventually kill her.

Still she was curious and she still wondered what it was that her aunt had gone out of her way to get for her. So she tore off the emerald wrapping paper and opened the box, pushed away the tissue paper and pulled out her present.

In her hand was a jewelry set. There were the earrings, the necklace, and a bracelet, along with a ring. They were all green and silver and she gulped as she also noted that the ring had her mother's true family crest on it. She threw them back into the box and pushed it away, not wanting anything to do with them.

Tears wanted to drop from her cheekbones and she tried to usher them away, though a few still came out. She went over to the tissue box off near the couch and wiped away her tears before she took a deep breath. She went back to the box and picked it up before she went all the way upstairs to her bedroom.

Sitting them in her wardrobe, Luna shut the oak doors and fell down in a heap in front of them. She had been so happy, so excited to wake up and celebrate the holiday with her daddy and with the Weasleys that she didn't even imagine that she would get something from her cousin and aunt.

She let her head fall forward and she pulled her knees up against her chest. She didn't cry anymore but she sat there with her head against her knees. She felt so numb at that very moment. A part of her wanted to know what that side of her family was doing right now—if they were celebrating it or if they were just sitting there, being the rich stuck up snobs that they usually were.

When she heard footsteps start to head up to her bedroom she stood up and smoothed down her dress and went over to where her bed was. She began to make her bed, having forgotten to do so this morning. Outside snow was cascading and Luna would have been happy to sit there and observe the snow fall but she knew that it would be best to not do that right now.

As soon as she was done with her bed she looked up when she heard her daddy enter her bedroom. Xenophilius furled his eyebrows together, knowing that there was something odd that radiated through the room but dismissed it. He trusted his little girl; he knew that if anything was bothering her she would come to him and tell him what was bothering her.

"Come downstairs, Luna. Mrs. Weasley had told me yesterday that we should go ahead and head over as soon as we wake up so that we could go and eat breakfast and spend the day together," her father informed her, and Luna nodded her head as she walked over to him.

He wrapped his arm around her and she smiled up at him as they wandered down the staircase and to the ground floor.

The front door opened after they put on their fluffy coats, and as it closed Luna knew that she would tuck away her first present she received this morning into the far corners of her mind and keep her present in her wardrobe.

She never wanted to see it again.


	29. the new seeker

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**28:**_ the new seeker_

** Luna **was sitting in the library, sketching out another creature that she had seen earlier, when she heard the library door open and someone shuffle towards her. She didn't look up, the top of her hair had been pulled back by a little glass jeweled butterfly that was light green, and she had on a simple white blouse with retro bell bottom jeans that were out of style with the little flowers sewn at the bottom of them.

She had a feeling of who it was. Harry. She had memorized the footsteps of her friends and she could tell that it was Harry's that were heading toward her. She hummed and only looked up when the chair across from her was pulled back and the person plopped down in front of her.

"Who's the Ravenclaw Seeker, Luna? I heard that they were getting a new one and I want to know." Harry was probably looking at her with those pleading emerald eyes and Luna smiled some as she almost smirked.

"Oh, Harry, you know that I don't care for Quidditch. What makes you think that I know who my new Seeker is for my House?" Luna probed to him, her eyes slowly flickering up from the sketchbook and to Harry. The sunlight gleamed in through the windows and cast a flicker of light across his round glasses for a second.

"I know that you're messing with me, Lovegood. Don't act all innocent. I know that you know who the seeker is. Tell them that they won't stand a chance against me." Harry was the one who smirked, as though he was happy that he had proclaimed that he would be the better Seeker.

Luna thought of whom the Seeker was for Ravenclaw and how she was happy that the person had gotten to be on the Quidditch team after so long. Cho Chang deserved to be happy and be on the team—Luna knew that Cho would be nothing more than excited when she would play against Hufflepuff; even though Luna had a feeling that Cho would make sure to show that she was the better player between her and Cedric.

"That will only make them practice much harder, Harry. They're very competitive you see, they'll be determined to show that they're the better one," Luna responded to him easily, as she closed her sketchbook and glanced out the window and peered at the Quidditch Pitch in the distance.

"It doesn't help either that Professor Flitwick cast a charm on the pitch to make sure that no one can see them practice," Harry grumbled and Luna couldn't help but giggle some—which in return made him glance at her and smile.

"Yes, well, we are the House known for intelligence, Harry. Professor Flitwick might not be as ruthless as Professor McGonagall is when it comes to Quidditch but he is still competitive." Luna went to put her sketchbook into her psychedelic satchel when she saw Harry actually notice it fully.

"Ginny told me that you like to sketch. That you're really talented, and I'd love to see your sketches some time." Harry calmly let his eyes wander away from the sketchbook and towards the pitch again.

"Yes, well, maybe some day. I am a very _eccentric _artist as Ginny likes to tease and call me. I like bright colors. My whole house is covered with paintings from me. I make sure to have my house very bright. It keeps away bad creatures if you didn't know." Luna placed her sketchbook back into her satchel.

"What kind of creatures?" Harry asked her, and Luna felt herself brighten at the fact that Harry openly asked her what creatures were the ones that needed to be repelled by depressing creatures.

She could go on and on about all the different creatures but she had decided that she should only tell him about two or three. She didn't want him to run off, even though he did look interested.

As she explained them and told him how they were around the first year without her mum and how once she had been allowed to paint inside her house they went away without any hassle. She told him about how she would paint the wall that faced away from her bed white every now and then so that she could repaint the wall to whatever mural she wanted.

She only was stopped when she saw Hermione and Ron enter the library and make their way towards them. Ron was breathing heavily but Hermione was fine, she looked as though she hadn't sprinted with everything that she was. Ron was always hyper like that—if something that wasn't that major but was big news in his opinion came across him and he needed to tell someone else he would book it in that person's direction so that they could receive the news faster.

"Harry! Wood is looking for you! He said that he wants you to practice, especially since we don't know who the new Seeker is." Ron was breathing heavily still and Hermione shook her head at him before she turned her attention towards Harry again, finding that he had a look of confusion.

"Wood didn't schedule us today." Harry sighed before he got up and turned to Luna, "I'll talk to you later, Luna. I better go."

Harry jogged out of the library and Ron trailed after him, ready so that he could watch the practice sessions (Luna had heard that there weren't any spectators that were allowed when Oliver Wood was too focused because he didn't want any distractions whatsoever). She couldn't blame him though.

"It's Cho Chang, isn't it? I see her beaming all the time. I think it's nice that she's the new Seeker. Hasn't she wanted to be on the team since her first year?" Hermione sat down and probed to her friend, before she glanced out towards the pitch—she could see that there were silhouettes that were heading towards the pitch and it wouldn't be that long before Harry's would join the others.

"I can't say," Luna responded back though she gave a smile towards Hermione when she looked back—as though to wordlessly tell her that it was Cho. Hermione shook her head, amused, before she looked around her.

"Do you mind if I go up to your Common Room to study? I mean I love coming here but sometimes I want to get away from it, and my Common Room is always so busy. The only time I'd actually be able to study would be around midnight," Hermione scrunched her features up at the last part of her statement—it was true though.

"Of course, Hermione, you're welcome to! We can go get your things and then we can head to my Common Room." Luna pushed back her chair and picked up her satchel and her sketchbook. She placed the sketchbook easily into her satchel and then pushed the chair back in its original spot.

The both of them left the library, not really paying attention to Madam Pince as she loamed after a first year that looked like they'd have a stroke if they opened the page a bit harder than they should.

The walk to Gryffindor Tower was silent and Luna was not insulted by that knowledge. She didn't rely on having to have conversations when she was just heading down hallways. She hummed as she let her satchel swing forward and backwards—the sunlight shimmered in still and she didn't look out the large windows because she knew that it would just show the campus grounds.

"Luna, do you mind if I borrow Amite sometime? I have been meaning to write to my parents but I don't want to bother Harry all the time with asking for Hedwig," Hermione randomly asked, making Luna stop humming and look up at the taller bushy haired girl. Hermione was patient though as they rounded another corridor and she nodded her head, allowing her to know she could borrow her.

"Of course you can, Hermione. Amite might like to sit and nest all the time but she also likes to get away from the Owelry every now and then." Luna could see in the corner of her eye that some creatures were hovering over them—they were ones that liked to be around people when they had conversations.

"Thanks, Luna." Hermione gave her another smile before they reached the Gryffindor portrait—the both of them greeted with Sir Cadogan in the portrait with his annoying hyper attitude, as though he was trying to be intimidating, it only made Luna sigh as Hermione demanded for him to open the portrait.

"I'm so happy that Professor McGonagall told him that if he didn't behave that she'd charm his mouth shut so that he couldn't speak. She hates having him here as much as everyone else." Hermione sighed this time and they entered through the portal and were in the Common Room.

Some of the girls were sitting over near the largest window in the Common Room, talking about anything and everything and some of the boys were sitting near a chess set so that they could play Wizarding Chess. From the sound of pieces being smashed to smithereens (the great thing about Wizarding Chess was that the pieces could magically fix themselves after a check mate) it was obvious that they were in the middle of the game.

Percy was over at one of the study tables and was writing profusely on parchment paper. There was ink that was splattered across his nose and hands and he kept trying to push his glasses up though he managed to get some ink on his lenses too.

Hermione rolled her eyes and quietly flicked her wand towards the seventh year so that the ink would disappear from his lenses and the rest of him. He snapped his head up when he saw that the ink that was on his hands was gone—his eyes landing on Hermione and Luna.

"Oh, well, thank you, Hermione….Lovegood." Percy didn't let his eyes stay on them any longer before he looked back down at his parchment paper. Luna had a feeling that he was writing to the Ministry because he wanted to work in it.

"I'll go get my things, Luna. I'll be right back." Hermione headed up the stairs and went down the hallway where the girls' dorms were. Luna made her way towards the comfy sofa and sat down, her hands clasped together.

Behind her she could hear Percy grumbling and telling himself that he should write something else while one of the boys near the chess table was yelling at one of the players to move in another direction all entirely.

She only looked up when she heard Neville call her name. She glanced at him and found that he was standing in front of her with gloves on and his fluffy coat, it was apparent that he had gone to down to the greenhouses.

"Hello, Neville. How are the plants?" Luna patted the spot next to her and Neville sat down next to her before he pulled off his gloves and his coat—she could see that his nose was red and that he probably had forgotten to put a warming charm on him.

"Oh, they are fine. They are doing well; Professor Sprout said that I'm one of her best students ever." Neville beamed at the memory of the squat but sweet woman that had come into the greenhouse that he usually occupied and told him that she was very proud of him and that he should probably head up before long.

They could hear Hermione heading down the corridor, talking to Lavender Brown—that told her that she didn't see why Hermione was even leaving the Common Room and that she should just stay. Hermione spun on her heels when she was at the main landing and turned to her, "I just want to, Lavender. I like Luna. I want to be somewhere that I can actually study and not feel distracted other than the library."

Lavender gave a sour look at her before she spun her heels this time and walked off, apparently upset that Hermione even wanted to hang out with Luna. Luna didn't blink during this whole altercation but instead stood up and smoothed down her blouse—ready to head back to her Common Room.

"Neville, if Harry and Ron want to know where I am I'm with Luna in her Common Room." Hermione began to walk again and Luna followed after her—patient and without any need to hurry. She hummed once again as the portal opened and Luna went through it with Hermione.

They went through the same corridors too, and Luna couldn't help but glance outside every now and then to see if she could see anyone that was wandering around the campus with no set destination.

She paused when she reached one and turned her head direction to the blond boy that was walking around the campus with his two goons behind him. A girl with black hair that fell at her shoulders and was not attractive at all was next to him, she was Pansy Parkinson, and she always wanted to have his attention.

Luna knew for a fact that Draco Malfoy was basically engaged, he was betrothed to Astoria Greengrass. Luna didn't really know that much about the family, other than the fact that they weren't strong followers of Voldemort.

"What are you looking at, Luna?" Hermione stopped and turned to Luna, she had her books in her hands still and she looked as though she was the pure bookworm that she always had been.

Luna noted that Draco looked up towards the window as though he could sense someone staring at him. His goons weren't that smart anyway and they weren't paying attention to him. Pansy looked up with him and Luna stared down at them—finding that Pansy was sneering up at her and that Draco was just looking up at her, this time with exasperation.

"Why are you looking at Malfoy? Please don't tell me that you have a crush on him, Luna." Hermione touched Luna's shoulder and Luna turned her head away from the purebloods and to her Muggle-born friend.

"No, I don't have a crush on him. We know things about each other that others don't know about. So I know how he really is, sometimes I cannot help but feel that he is near me when he is," Luna responded as she turned her attention completely away from the window and to Hermione.

Hermione furled her eyebrows, as though she didn't know what just spilled from her odd friend's lips but she dismissed it. "Come on, let's go."

Luna trailed after Hermione this time, knowing that one could only keep a secret for so long when it was associated with Draco Malfoy.


	30. the famous slap

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**29: **_the famous slap_

**The end of January** was approaching and before Luna could blink she knew that she was about to finish her second year at Hogwarts before long. A part of her felt saddened at the knowledge that she wouldn't have Ginny with her but she was happy that she still had her best friend and that she hadn't been killed down in the chambers.

She was currently sitting outside under her signature tree with a charcoal pencil hitting her chin as she scrunched up her features. She was trying to imagine what she should sketch when she heard yelling behind her. Not just any yelling, it sounded like Hermione Granger had decided to lash out at someone.

Luna didn't have to turn around to know that it was Draco Malfoy that had upset Hermione. Out of anyone that made her yell at them it was always that blond prick. She still did turn around because one second she was watching Ron and Harry try to tell her that he wasn't worth it and the next she put her wand out and pointed it at his throat, he said something when she had gone to walk away, only for her to spin on her heels and bring her hand out—she slapped him hard across his face.

Blinking a few times, Luna watched the horror appear on Draco's face at the fact that he had just been slapped by Hermione. He brought his hand up and placed it on his cheek that was still stinging when he turned around and rushed off—his goons were following after him.

Luna shook her head and looked back down at her sketchbook again. She knew that some would be upset if she sketched him out—but Luna had inspiration appear suddenly and she knew that she wanted to sketch out Draco Malfoy.

She brought out a regular pencil and began to make the outline of his head and then his neck. She erased some of the marks that were too messed up, and then craned her head to the side as she remembered all the curious looks that he had sent her since her first year here.

She had just gotten to where she was going to draw his shoulders when she heard footsteps heading in her direction. She slammed her sketchbook closed completely, knowing that the last thing that others needed to see was her sketching out Draco Malfoy. She had told Hermione that she didn't have a crush on him but that didn't mean that others wouldn't think the same.

"Luna? What are you doing out here?"

Luna brought her head up and turned so that she was seeing Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang standing in front of her. The both of them were holding hands and Cho was wearing a navy blue long sleeve length blouse, light washed jeans and plain sneakers. Cedric was wearing a deep red long sleeve length shirt, dark washed jeans, and plain tennis shoes too. At the top right hand of his shirt though was a little Snitch design.

"Oh, I'm just sketching, and watching Hermione Granger slap Draco Malfoy," Luna responded as she watched both of them widen their eyes and then look at each other—as though they were asking if the girl in front of them had actually said that.

Cedric shrugged his shoulders, "it wouldn't surprise me, to be honest. I'm lucky that I don't have him in the same year as me."

"Me either," Cho agreed, knowing that she didn't want to think of the kid (he was only a year younger than her but still) and how much of a shǎzi (idiot) he was.

"What are you doing out here?" Luna probed to them as she craned her head to the side, with patience coating her voice.

"We were just taking a walk. I was going to try and get Cedric over here to practice Quidditch with me but he's _not in the mood_," Cho responded, teasing her boyfriend and smirking up at him as her boyfriend shrugged his shoulders.

"I have my off days, babe. Anyway, we'll see you later Luna." Cedric pulled Cho away after she said her own goodbye—the both of them heading in the direction of where the school was. Luna looked back down at her sketchbook and brought it out again so that she could continue her sketching.

She knew that she was going to put so much emotion in his eyes; she knew that Draco was a troubled soul and that he didn't ask to be who he was. She knew that he hated being related to Sirius Black and Bellatrix Black.

There were people out there that Luna knew had hearts and souls that were filled to the brim with toxic hatred. There were people that were out there that enjoyed killing and nothing more. That was the way that they wanted to live. They wanted to make people afraid of them, and she knew that he had family members that did those very things—and he couldn't help it.

Luna sighed as she leant her head against the bark of the tree, her eyes flickering in the direction of where the Black Lake was. She couldn't really see anyone near it and she knew that not that many people came out to see the lake unless it was sweltering hot and needed to cool off (it was not the case right now—it was cold, but not as cold as last year).

Putting her sketchbook back into her satchel, Luna got up from her spot and began to head forward. She wasn't in the mood to wear shoes today, and as she walked forward her toes wiggled against the grass and dirt began to cake her soles of her feet. The sun beat down upon her head and made her hair almost glimmer.

Reaching the lake, Luna sat the satchel off to the side and pulled off her sweater so that she was wearing her bra and she went forward—not caring that she was going to get her pants wet. She knew a drying charm but she still didn't want to get into the water with her shirt on.

Walking forward, Luna felt the water touch her feet—she did pause for a moment but decided she wanted to still swim—she hadn't gotten to swim in a long time (and when the mood to swim hit Luna she often went swimming).

She continued forward after she had grabbed her wand near her satchel and cast a warm spell on herself, her eyes set forward as the water began to get higher with each step.

When she was to her stomach she soaked in the feeling around her—she hadn't been swimming in a long time. She felt her hair rustle from the wind and she pushed her hair behind her ears, then she walked forward again.

When she was far enough in the lake water for her to dunk her head under the water she didn't hesitate for one second. She ducked under and allowed the water to hit her whole face before she brought her head up. She pushed away her long bangs and hair while giggling before she turned so that she could look towards her tree and the Forbidden Forest in the distance.

She hadn't expected to see Neville standing in front of her at the edge of the water, his mouth slung open at the sight of his friend swimming in the water with only her pants and bra on.

"Luna? What are you doing?" Neville knew it was a stupid thing to ask her but Luna merely leant back and allowed her feet to kick in the water.

"Oh, I'm just swimming, Neville. I haven't really had time to swim yet and I thought that it would be nice to swim. I don't have my swimsuit so I knew that I could strip down to my bra and pants. The water is very refreshing; would you like to join me?" Luna let her eyes wander away from Neville and towards the middle of the lake—she knew that the Giant Squid was somewhere out there.

"Oh, no, no I'm fine, Luna! I think that you need to come out. I don't think that the lake is safe." Neville bit the corner of his lip as Luna rolled her eyes and turned her attention to him again.

"You don't know how to have fun, Neville. I know that you enjoy doing Herbology and that is wonderful, but why don't you come and swim? It is a lovely day after all." Luna craned her head to the side again, pieces of her hair falling in front of face as she waited for his verdict.

"Sorry, Luna but I don't feel comfortable getting in that water. Please come out though," Neville clutched his hands together as he peered out at his good friend, but the good friend wasn't in the mood to leave the lake.

"I'll come out soon, Neville." Luna turned away from him and leant back so that she was floating on the water. She sighed and let her eyes flutter shut as she absorbed herself in the feeling of floating on a layer of water.

She had gotten so absorbed in the feeling that she hadn't known that Neville had gone to get Professor McGonagall because he worried about his best friend and he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

"Miss Lovegood! What are you doing?"

Luna opened her eyes and adjusted her position so that she was swimming normally, noting that Professor McGonagall was standing at the edge of the water with other students staring at her—wondering what was wrong with her.

"Oh, I'm swimming, Professor McGonagall. I thought that it would be a wonderful way to relax."

Professor McGonagall blinked a few times—first she had to come and get Luna out of basically a blizzard her first year (she still couldn't believe that she had been sitting on a quilt and wasn't wearing proper clothing!) and now she was being told by Neville Longbottom that Luna Lovegood was swimming in the Black Lake in only her pants and her bra (once again it was freezing, she was lucky that the lake wasn't frozen over this year—though now she wished it was).

"Miss Lovegood, come out right now! I will have to deduct twenty points from Ravenclaw and you will serve Detention with me next Tuesday right after dinner for three hours!" Professor McGonagall turned to the students and found that they were still standing there and that they were waiting for her to come out of the water.

"As for all of you, you will leave unless you wish to earn yourself detentions. Miss Lovegood is not dressed properly and I will not have her subjected to being stared at due to her state of clothing." Professor McGonagall shot them one warning glare and they all scrambled away, knowing that from the type of tone in her voice they would probably be scratched by her when she was in her cat form.

Luna swam forward and when she had reached the professor she was greeted with the woman holding a teal towel for the girl. Luna wrapped the towel around herself.

"Miss Lovegood, you are a young lady. I know that you think differently than others but please be the proper young lady that I know you are. I do not want to have to have this conversation with you again because I'll have us go up to Headmaster Dumbledore, do you understand?" Professor McGonagall let her eyes wander down to the short and light blonde haired girl with doe eyes.

"Of course, Professor McGonagall, I completely understand. I did not think about there being anyone outside around the lake. I had looked around and didn't see anyone, I should have thought better and know that it would be best if I wear a swimsuit if I wish to swim in the lake again."

Luna entered the castle with the woman next to her. Professor McGonagall thought for a moment before she crouched down. "I want you to know that if you ever need to talk to a woman about something then you can always come to me and Professor Sprout. Our doors are always open. You may not be in our Houses but we both love all our students the same."

Luna smiled warmly at the professor and nodded her head, "I know, professor. I'll keep that in mind. Now please excuse me, I must go take a shower and change into more comfortable clothing."

Luna turned and headed up the stairs.

It would not be until Luna was heading to go and eat dinner that she was greeted with Hermione, Ron, and Harry—they were heading towards her. Hermione looked completely upset and both Ron and Harry had looks that let her know that they didn't know what to do with this situation.

"Luna Lovegood, oh I don't know what you were thinking! You know better than to swim in the lake without proper swimwear! That and you would freeze to death!" Hermione threw her arms up in the air, as though she was exasperated with Luna completely and she didn't know what she should do with her.

"Did you really swim in the lake like we heard?" Ron looked uncomfortable, and Luna nodded her head, "oh, yes. I was not in the mood to wear a swimsuit. I did not want my sweater to get wet so I discarded it. I still had my bra on, of course."

Ron blanched at the word and turned away, while Harry stood there with his eyes wide and he cleared his throat, "Okay…well I think that we'll see you two later. Come on, Ron. Let's go get something to eat."

Ron followed Harry down the stairs and Luna turned her head, noting that Hermione sighed and she walked over to Luna before she placed her hand on her shoulder, "I hope you know that we all care about you and that we won't stop being your friend but please double check some of your odd situations that you want to put yourself into because sometimes they aren't…."

Hermione walked down the stairs with Luna and she nodded her head, "I understand, Hermione. I talked to Professor McGonagall earlier; she said that if I ever need someone to talk to in the female staff that I could always come to her or Professor Sprout. I have detention with Professor McGonagall next week."

Hermione thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "good, you need detention for that. By the way, did you see what happened earlier between me and Malfoy?"

"Oh yes! I saw you slap him, I do not know why, but I know that he is known for being harsh with his words and that he deserved it." Luna peered up at the girl as they entered the Great Hall.

"I'll tell you after dinner, Luna, about what happened."

As it would turn out Hermione did tell her what had happened and Luna had listened with rapt attention. She also mentally noted that it was not good to swim in the Black Lake in just her bra and pants in the middle of January.


	31. 13th Birthday

**30:**_ 13__th__ Birthday_

** Before she knew **it February came and the days blurred by, before it was the thirteenth. She knew that tomorrow was Valentine's and that people would be having dates with others or friends were sneaking candies from their friends that had received the said candy. Hermione and Ron and Harry weren't doing anything for Valentine's Day this year, none of them were dating anyone and none of them seemed as though they were interested in dating someone.

Waking up on her birthday, Luna dressed in a black and white polka dotted sweater along with denim overalls over the sweater. She tied her hair up in a messy bun and wore her star charmed necklace that she had gotten from her mum. She had put on some glittery nail polish that Mandy had let her borrow.

Going downstairs to the Common Room, Luna noted how her house mates were either sitting near the windows with their notes and textbooks or they were sitting by the fireplace and in their own thoughts. Some of them glanced up and studied Luna for a second before they went back to what they were originally doing.

She didn't expect though to hear thundering footsteps heading towards the stairs or arms wrapping around her and squeezing her as the person spun them around. She was sat down and was greeted with Mandy standing in front of her with some American Muggle band t-shirt on, Nirvana. Mandy wasn't a big fan of the band but she still listened to them.

"So I heard that it's your birthday, Lune! Feel like you're thirteen yet?" Mandy probed to her as she folded her arms against her chest—noticing in the corner of her eye that some of the Ravenclaws scrunched up their features at the sight of her band t-shirt. She ignored them like she normally did.

"I do not feel any different, but I know that I am thirteen now." Luna didn't blink up at the girl, her misty blue eyes peering up at the girl as the brown eyed girl stared at her for a second before she wrapped her arm around Luna's shoulder blades.

"I got you a birthday present, I know that you said that you didn't want anything but I found something at Hogsmeade last time that I knew I had to get you," Mandy informed her as she pushed them towards the loveseat. The two Ravenclaws that were sitting on either side paid more attention to their books once the two girls sat down on it—finding that they didn't have anything interesting to look at than their books.

"Oh, thank you, Mandy." Luna watched as the girl told her to stay where she was before she hurried up the stairs and off in the direction of where the third year dorms were. She hummed as she put her hands together and peered up at the beautiful astronomical high dome like ceiling. She loved that ceiling; she knew that she could never get tired of it.

"Can you stop humming, Lovegood? It's really annoying," the boy to her right asked her, earning a nod from the boy on her other side—as though to add on the fact that probably every student in the Common Room were nodding their heads. They didn't want to put up with her but they had to.

Luna only looked down from the ceiling when she heard footsteps heading down the staircase and when she looked down from the ceiling she saw that Mandy was holding a small little navy blue box that had a silver ribbon tied to it.

"It's not much but it's something," Mandy told her as she reached her and handed the box to her.

Luna pulled off the ribbon and handed it to Mandy, who took it without question, since she probably knew that Luna would do something with the ribbon. She pulled off the wrapping paper and handed it Mandy—this time Mandy knew that she had wanted her to throw away the wrapping paper.

Opening the box Luna was greeted with a silver chained necklace with a glass oval in the middle of the chain—but not only that but the glass oval had the Milky Way in it—and it spun and danced within the confines.

Luna blinked a few times, not expecting to see something of this sort, before she felt tears begin to rise in her tear ducts. She couldn't help but laugh once and then she began to laugh more and fall into an endless spout of laughter.

"Luna, are you okay?" Mandy reached her hand out and Luna peered up at the girl with tear stained cheekbones and puffy red eyes.

"T-Thank you," she managed to say before she turned her neck so that Mandy could put the necklace on her. When she clipped it closed, Luna couldn't help but hug Mandy and tell her once again thank you.

"Don't worry about it, Lune. I hope my present beats the others." Mandy pulled away from Luna only for the girl to stare at her as though she thought that she had just spoken in a dead language.

"Others, did you just mean more than one? I knew that Ginny said that she'd send me a sweater that she had knitted for me but that was all that I thought I would get." Luna felt her heart race in her chest in warmth at the knowledge that she would receive _presents_ from her _friends_!

"Of course, when I had gone down to Hogsmeade I told the others about your birthday and they knew that they had to get you something. Ron will probably get you some candy or food, and Hermione might get you something that Muggles use but Harry I have no idea what he'd get you," Mandy admitted, earning another dazed look from Luna as she ran her fingers against her necklace.

"I know what you're thinking, Lune and you shouldn't think that way, and you are worth it. Now come with me, we're going to Gryffindor Tower so that you can get your presents from them." Mandy helped Luna up from the loveseat and walked out of the Common Room with Luna next to her.

The Common Room door closed behind them and they headed down the spiral staircase, their footsteps hitting against the concrete stairs. Luna kept her fingers against her necklace, knowing that she had her star charm necklace under it and that it would be weird but she didn't care—the star charm necklace had a shorter chain than this one did—it fell a few inches above the galaxy one.

When they reached the corridor again, Mandy headed forward and moved in a hyped hop, as though she was about to go on an adventure with Bilbo Baggins (Luna had read The Hobbit, she liked it).

Luna smiled the whole time though at the sight of Mandy being more excited than her. Luna felt as though she had fallen asleep and she hadn't woken up yet—so this was all so strange to her.

"I still can't believe that you went swimming in the lake when it was freezing cold last month," Mandy suddenly spoke up, causing Luna to turn her full attention to Mandy again.

"Oh, I was in the mood to swim. The lake wasn't frozen where I wanted to swim so I went and swam. I know now to wear a swimsuit though," Luna responded, earning a shake of the head from her new found best friend.

"You really are an odd one, Luna Lovegood." She shook her head this time but was smiling the whole time. They rounded the next corridor and were only a few corridors away from the Gryffindor Tower.

Some of the students that were moving past them waved hello to them, well they mostly waved hello to Mandy. Mandy had gotten positive feedback from the student body when it came to being friends with the Golden Trio. Luna was the one who was closer to them and yet they pushed her away as though she was nothing more than the mandatory 'friend' of the group.

Reaching the Gryffindor Tower, they stopped in front of the portrait and were glad when they noted that it was the Fat Lady that was in front of them. She glanced down at them and beamed at the sight of them—she always liked Luna and Mandy, they were quite entertaining in her opinion.

Giving the password, Mandy stepped forward after the portrait opened and they were welcomed with the open portal. She stepped in and Luna followed in after her, her eyes trailing over the different comfy details in the room. She still preferred her own Common Room design than this one.

Sitting at one of the study tables together were the Golden Trio and they were talking to each other. They glanced up when they heard muffled footsteps going in their direction—they had a feeling that it Mandy and Luna was that were coming to them.

Mandy stood in front of them with a crimson and black plaid button up shirt over a Nirvana t-shirt and dark washed jeans, along with some black tennis shoes. She had her hair pulled to the side in a braid and she had piercings decorating the edges of her ears (this was something that she had gotten done over Christmas break).

Luna on the other hand stood in front of them with a cute sweater along with denim overalls and normal tennis shoes. She had a messy bun and her wand was still stuck in its trusty spot behind her ear.

"We're here! Where are your presents for Luna?" Mandy pushed Luna over to where one of the chairs was and Luna blushed as she sat down. She looked up and saw that Ron and Harry were studying her before Hermione got up and excused herself so that she could go get her present for Luna.

"Boys, come on! Go get what you got Luna for her birthday!" Hermione motioned for them to come to the stairs and they both got up before they made their way towards the stairs. She hurried up the rest of the stairs and went in the direction of where her dorm was while the boys went over to where their dorm was.

Luna was mostly surprised though when some of the girls in the Common Room shuffled over to her and told her to have a good birthday. Other people were telling her happy birthday too. If she wasn't Luna she would have been asking if she had been in the Twilight Zone.

Instead Luna thanked each and every one, even the ones that were only saying it because they wanted to still be thought of as good in the eyes of Harry.

Luna only turned away from the people when she saw her three new friends going down the stairs with their presents. They sat them down in a stack in front of Luna and Luna knew that Mandy was right when she saw that Ron had about fifteen different assortments of candies on the table along with a gift card to Honeyduke.

"Thank you for the candies, Ron. That is very generous of you," Luna told him before she went to the next gift—which happened to be Hermione's present.

Opening the nicely done wrapped box (Hermione proclaimed that she was amazing at gift wrapping), Luna pulled away the tissue paper before she saw that there was a sweater that changed to different shades of colors every few minutes—"I know that you have probably a thousand shirts and stuff that change color all the time but when I saw it I knew that you'd like it."

Luna smiled up at Hermione and nodded her head. "I do love it, Hermione. I don't have this one. We usually charm our clothes after we buy them. The fact that a witch or wizard created a unique fabric thread that changes color makes me extremely happy."

"You're welcome, Luna."

Luna turned her attention to the last present that was on the table. Harry stood near Hermione but was behind her—his eyes were nervous and Luna almost wanted to ask him why he had to be so nervous but she knew inwardly that it was the first present that Harry had ever gotten for her.

She tore off the horrible gift wrapped box (apparently Harry wasn't as amazing at gift wrapping as Hermione was but Luna wasn't going to hold that against him), and opened the box to see that there were two things that were in the box.

One of them happened to be a black thin headband that had what looked like a thousand little Amethyst stones on them that made up the headband so that the person that wore it looked like they had just a crown of Amethysts on their head.

The other thing happened to be a scarf that was the same shade as the Amethysts and Luna smiled beautifully up at Harry. "You know my birthstone…"

Harry chuckled and reached his head up and ran his fingers through his hair, "I honestly had to ask Lavender Brown what your birthstone is since she's all about astronomy and that stuff but I thought that it would be nice if I get you something that has your birthstone."

Luna sat the headband down and the scarf before she got up and made her way around the table. She hugged Ron, who in response almost had a spaz attack due to the random hug and then Hermione—she was received with a quick hug that was full of warmth and finally she reached Harry.

She reached forward and hugged him, closing her eyes as she absorbed the feeling of his arms around her. Some boys had cologne on or they would smell like a certain type of shampoo but Luna didn't focus entirely on those two little things. Harry wasn't wearing any cologne because this was Harry Potter that she was talking about—Harry didn't wear cologne.

"Thank you so much, Harry," she breathed to him, and she knew that he knew that she didn't just thank him for the gifts that she had received from him. He knew that she was thanking him because of the fact that he had accepted her as his friend.

He could have easily pushed her aside plenty of times, he had many opportunities to push her away—especially what had happened last month but Harry had still decided to be her friend.

She knew that this was one of the best birthdays she ever had, if not the best, that she had ever experienced. She felt loved by more than her daddy and Ginny and that meant the world to her.


	32. the lioness's departure

**31: **_the lioness's departure_

**Sybill Trelawney was **mostly admired by the Ravenclaw House out of any of the Houses. Hufflepuffs were nice, but they were often confused by the Divination teacher that would be walking around her incense filled closed up classroom claiming that she saw things that would sometimes come true (they were very obvious things), while Slytherins were ruthless about the teacher and claimed that she was a joke. Gryffindor's were in the middle while Ravenclaws had the most students that admired Professor Trelawney.

Luna didn't have Professor Trelawney yet, mainly due to the fact that she wasn't a third year. Mandy didn't really care for the teacher—she said that it seemed as though Professor Trelawney was mostly focused on predicting the death of Harry, which she knew was a given since who Harry was.

It also didn't help that every time Luna was in her Common Room that she would hear the shouting of an answer to the riddle and Hermione would come in and pace back and forth and tell Luna she didn't get what it was that made Professor Trelawney think that what she said was set in stone.

It made many of the Ravenclaws glare at the girl when she would enter—they grew to hate the sight of the bushy haired girl that had to talk to her odd friend about one of their favorite professors. It didn't help that Parvati and Lavender were very protective of the woman and said that Hermione was being a bitch (Parvati and Lavender were only in the Ravenclaw Common Room because Parvati always traded passwords with her twin for their Common Rooms).

Luna would be sitting at the table and writing her notes and see Hermione hiss back at the two girls and tell them that they needed to mind their own business because she was talking to Luna and not them. Luna would look back down at her notes and check to make sure that what she had written so far was what she needed and that she hadn't been subconsciously writing what was being said at that very moment.

It was getting closer to exams and she didn't want to forget anything that was being reviewed at the moment. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall were ruthless when it came to their studies because they said that each year was closer to them getting to their O. and then eventually their N.E.W.T.s.

Luna was an excellent student so she wasn't too afraid of not getting something right even though she still didn't see a reason why she would get something wrong. Hermione Granger was the opposite though, she had to get everything right and she knew that there must have been something that she had done to get something wrong—which in return made her wonder what it was that made her forget about the very thing that she had gotten wrong.

Today though, well Luna was looking out of her window of her classroom and saw that Hermione was stalking away from the Divination Tower. She could tell that the girl even this far away was lividly pissed off at the world and that she wanted to punch something hard.

Reminding her own self to leave it alone and not ask Hermione unless the girl wanted to tell her something, Luna turned her attention forward and paid attention the rest of her class, knowing that it would be best to pay attention and not let her mind wander to things that she didn't need to worry about.

She was leaving the classroom and was heading down the corridor when she started to hear the gossip that spread throughout the corridors like wild fire. Apparently Hermione had finally snapped and had yelled at Professor Trelawney, and had basically said that her subject that she taught was useless before she had left.

A part of her heart stung at that knowledge, Luna quite like Divination and she hadn't taken the class yet. She had been taught it though by her mum before she had died and she had grown to love it. She was a lot more sensitive towards the subject and could sometimes feel that she was close to predicting something (nothing big, of course) only for it to not happen.

She had to remind herself that Hermione was closed-minded and that she didn't believe in everything that Luna believed in. Luna knew that Ron and Harry made a joke of the class because they didn't really take it that seriously but they still stayed in the class (even if it was mandatory, they'd probably leave if when they were allowed to do so), and didn't tell the teacher that what she was teaching was a complete joke and that it wasn't real at all.

Even she had to admit when she would be sitting with Ron and Harry in the Gryffindor Tower or in the library that she had laughed at the random predictions that they claimed that they were going to experience. She saw no problem with them coming up with something random, as long as they were enjoying some part of the class—she didn't want them to hate the class as passionately as Hermione did.

She tightened her grip on her books and went down the hallway where her next class was—wondering if she was going to head down a hallway where she would see Hermione with irritation still spilling from her. Luna didn't want to see the tense aura that would be around the girl, swallowing her whole.

Instead when she had turned the corner she bumped into someone else and she fell back onto her butt—hissing from the stone that hit her tailbone. She went to gather her things together but paused when she found that she was about to grab a book that was from an upper year.

"Watch where you're going, Lovegood."

Luna slowly brought her head up and found that Draco Malfoy was crouched down and that he was gathering his things. He had a look of irritation on his face though, like he normally did, but then there was a look of concern on his face. "Are you okay? You took a nasty fall there."

As if remembering her fall, Luna flinched again when she moved to get up and shrugged, "I am certain that this will not be the last time that I will trip or run into someone. I am quite oblivious, I must admit, Draco."

Luna gathered the rest of her things together only for her to pause when she remembered that she called him by his given name and not by his surname. "I apologize; I know that it is very inappropriate to call you Draco."

Draco glanced over his shoulder, glaring at the students that had paused—they scurried away when they got the Malfoy sneer. He turned his attention towards Luna again and brought his hand out so that he could touch hers.

"It is okay, Lovegood. As long as no one else hears you call me by my first name then it is fine. I must admit that it is refreshing to hear someone call me by my name without feeling like they need something from me." Draco went to pull his hand away only for her to keep his hand on hers.

"I want you to know, Draco that you don't have to be them." Luna allowed him to help her up from the stone floor.

"Luna, what are you doing?"

Luna felt the hand drop from hers and then Draco was gone. She turned her head towards the person—only to see that Ron and Harry were standing in front of her and that they had aghast looks on their faces, as though they couldn't believe that she was having a quiet moment with their sworn enemy.

"Are you in a relationship with Malfoy?" Harry probed to her and Luna blinked a few times before she shook her head, "I can reassure you that I am not in a relationship with Draco. We have a much intertwined history with each other; it is not odd in my opinion for this to have happened."

Both of them blinked a few times—the boys looked as though they were talking to the riddle knocker on her Common Room door. She opened her satchel and placed her books into them before she turned her head in the direction of where her next class was. "I am sorry but I cannot talk right now. I must get to my next class."

Luna began to make her way towards the classroom only for her to hear footsteps begin to thunder towards her and a hand reach out and take hers. She looked down at the hand, finding that a tan hand that belonged to Harry was in hers. She craned her head to the side and then looked up, "yes, Harry?"

"Malfoy is _not _good, Luna. I don't want you to be hurt by him if somehow you get close to him due to your past. You might remember that he might have been different before you started school but he's still a Malfoy and they aren't nice people. They were Death Eaters!" Harry waited for the moment that Luna would nod her head and agree with him profusely but Luna smiled at him.

"You don't have to worry about me, Harry. He's not going to hurt me. I know that his family has Death Eaters but I also know that Draco doesn't want to be like his parents. What child would want to be like their parents if they were known for torturing and killing those who did not follow You-Know-Who? He is very troubled, Harry, and I am afraid that he will end up being pressured to join if You-Know-Who ever comes back, which is very possible."

Harry blinked once, no twice, before he sighed and dropped his hand from hers. He thought for a moment before he spoke again, "still, I want you to be careful, Luna. Promise me that you'll be careful?"

_"Promise me, Luna that you will be careful and that you will not tell your father who I am related to. I know that it will not be good for him. He will not be able to forgive me for being who I truly am related to and not telling him. I regret being related to them every day, but I know that you will prove that having their blood doesn't mean that you will be like them."_

Luna felt her head begin to sway as she was welcomed with her mum's voice in her mind, she didn't even realize that she had done so until she felt hands touch her face and then drop to her shoulders.

"Luna? Luna, are you okay?"

Luna blinked many times before she focused in on Harry standing in front of her with his hands on her shoulders. He had a look of worry on his face and Luna reached her hand up to grab his hands and pulled them away from her shoulders.

"I promise you that I will be careful. You just have to give me a little more faith and trust, okay, Harry? I give you my complete trust." Luna saw that surprise appeared on Harry's face as he widened his eyes at the statement that she had just said—he sighed and looked away.

"All right, Luna, I trust _you _but if Malfoy ever hurts you he will regret it," Harry vowed and Luna felt warmth wash through her at the knowledge that Harry was very protective of her. She knew that to most girls they would probably be angry at the fact that they were having a boy try to have the alpha thing going on but she had never had someone be protective of her other than her daddy.

"Thank you, Harry. I must get going to my next class though. I'll see you later, okay?" Luna glanced over Harry's shoulders—seeing that Ron was standing there and that he was looking away as though he was thinking that if he looked at them he would be intruding on something that was private.

"I will see you later, okay, Ron?" Luna called out and Ron glanced over at her, his freckles more prominent since spring was here and he was outside more. His hair was very bright orange and he looked every inch of a true red head.

"Have a good class, Luna. You good, Harry?" Ron questioned his best friend, making Harry clear his throat and pull away from Luna for good. He gave one last look at Luna before he headed over to Ron.

Luna spun on her heels, as her dark school robes moved like liquid on her. Her blue tie brought out the color in her eyes and made her blonde hair more prominent. The green tie that Draco had been wearing made him look washed out while Harry's red tie made his hair and skin tone more prominent.

Luna knew that she was late for Astronomy but she knew that Professor Sinistra would forgive her this once. She'd probably have to write lines but Luna was okay when it came to writing lines. She wouldn't want to have to have detention, when she had detention with Professor McGonagall she had told her the proper etiquette for girls and how she should behave and how she should know when it stay inside and not try to go and swim in the lake when it was freezing or study for her classes out in the snow on her navy blue quilt.

Luna hurried to Astronomy and when she arrived she knocked on the door. Professor Sinistra opened the door and arched her eyebrow up at Luna—but she could see that Luna looked as though she didn't mean to be late. She sighed and ushered Luna in, who made her way towards the back of the classroom since that was where the only seats were left.

As she sat down and paid attention to the rest of the lesson that was being taught she couldn't help but feel the girlie part of her squeal at the little close encounter with Harry. She hadn't expected that it would be because of the fact that Harry was trying to tell Luna that Draco would hurt her.

Luna had yet to have Draco actually physically hurt her. He looked at her as though she was some animal that shouldn't be possible and he made a few comments but other than that he didn't tell her that she was stupid or that she should just go back home so that he would never have to see her face again.

She really did feel sorry for Draco.

She knew that he didn't ask to be born to his family, he didn't want to be known for being the nephew of the second in command when it came to the Death Eaters and he didn't want to be known for having a father that was following Voldemort (Luna had a feeling that Draco's family was like some of the other pureblood families that knew that they couldn't leave in the end or else they would be murdered in cold blood or their children would be killed so that they would learn to never leave).

She knew though that this wasn't the proper time to be thinking about Harry or Draco so she began to sketch out the constellations that Professor Sinistra was lecturing them about—she absorbed herself in one of her favorite classes.


	33. end of second year

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**32**:_ end of second year_

**It would not **be until after Sirius Black and Buckbeak (the hippogriff that had scratched Draco Malfoy) had escaped that Luna learnt the truth when it came to how they escaped. She had known that it must have had something to do with Harry and the others—she wasn't blind, she could tell that they couldn't hang out with her as much as they could other than them studying, but now that the Dementors were gone and the school was back to its normalcy Luna was ready to learn the truth about Sirius Black and Buckbeak from the Golden Trio.

She was walking with them to the campus grounds, holding her quilt while Hermione carried a whicker picnic basket that had food Luna had gotten from her daddy (both the whicker picnic basket and food were sent to her after she had her exams and ended up being the top Ravenclaw student in her year).

Ron and Harry were joking with each other and Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Harry's shoulder blades weren't as high and tense as they used to be. His hair was just as messy as always but his eyes were vividly green in this moment—his eyes were bright and they were happy, something that made her feel her breath get stuck in her throat.

He snapped his eyes towards Luna, sending her a dazzling smile, "what's wrong, Luna?"

Luna blinked a few times and didn't realize what she was about to say until it was too late, "Your eyes, they are quite beautiful. They are very clear, and I can tell that you haven't felt this happiness and peace in a long time."

Ron almost stumbled and Hermione paused where she was, her eyes widening as she turned to look at Luna. Harry on the other hand had his mouth hang open and a crimson splash appear on his cheekbones from blushing harshly. "Ah…um…thanks…yeah, I'm really happy."

Hermione shook her head in amusement before she turned to Luna completely, "let's get to our spot and then we'll tell you about what had happened."

Luna was gently escorted in the direction of where their new spot was that they would sit and stare at the lake. More students were in the water, Luna didn't know it was because of the fact that she had gone into the water and nothing had happened to her (like being eaten by the Giant Squid).

Spreading out her quilt, Luna sat down cross legged and turned to them. She had a large white floppy sun hat, baby blue sundress, and white sandals on today. She also wore her necklace that she had gotten from Mandy (Mandy was currently celebrating being done with her exams with the rest of her friends—apparently they were going to try and sneak down to Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and get some butterbeers).

The sun beamed down on them as the others sat down and Hermione opened up the whicker basket before she pulled out the food that Mr. Lovegood had given them. He at first was terrified at the thought of Luna being friends with the Golden Trio but also knew that his wife would have been disappointed in him if he thought that he had to tell who his daughter could and could not be friends with.

There were two Reuben sandwiches and two plain smoked meat sandwiches. Luna grabbed one of the Reuben sandwiches while Ron had grabbed another one—Hermione and Harry grabbed the smoked meat sandwiches.

"You know how Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban. Well you won't believe the reason why he did it…"

Luna listened intently as she was told about how Sirius Black was really Harry's god-father and that he was going to be the Secret Keeper of his best friend and wife's house so that Voldemort couldn't find them. Sirius thought that he shouldn't be the Secret Keeper so he had Peter Pettigrew (who also happened to be Scabbers) become the new Secret Keeper.

She nodded her head when they told her that he had ratted (quite literally) out Lily and James and Voldemort went to kill them. After he was finished with killing Harry's parents and making him become The-Boy-Who-Lived, Peter escaped and Sirius tried to kill him only for Peter to turn into a rat and then make his way to the Weasleys—where he first was Percy's pet and then Ron's.

"And to top it off, Professor Lupin is a werewolf!" Ron shouted as he ate some crisps, which in return made both Harry and Hermione glare at him—as though to tell him that he needed to shut up.

"Sorry," Ron grumbled before he ate some more crisps, finding that he needed to focus his attention on finishing his afternoon lunch.

"Oh, I knew from the beginning. I could feel that he has a different aura; I knew that it didn't feel human. I could also see that he had inner turmoil. I am very saddened that he has resigned because he knows that he cannot be anymore—he is smart though, I must admit, he knows to leave before any parents can send howlers," Luna responded as she ate some green grapes that had been sent.

She hadn't even noticed that something was heading to her until she felt claws land on her shoulder. She looked up and noted in the corner of her eye that Amite sat on her and that she had her head tilted up—as though to show that she was here because she was a good owl and she wanted to surprise her owner.

"Amite, it is good to see you, girl. How are you and Hedwig?" Luna probed to the owl as she hopped off of Luna's shoulder and landed on the quilt. She sat down and turned her head in the direction of where Hermione was—the girl reached her hand out and brushed her fingers through the owl's feathers.

Crookshanks was currently in the Gryffindor Common Room, taking a nap, he had been very protective of Hermione lately but she had to have some time away from him despite the fact that the cat had basically warned them from the beginning that there was something wrong with Scabbers.

Amite glanced back at Luna and fluffed her wings, as though to tell her that everything was all right. Luna smiled at the owl and reached her hand out so that she could run her fingers through her owl's feathers for a second.

Looking away from her owl, Luna turned back to Harry and thought for a moment before she stood up and smoothed down her dress.

"May I talk to you, in private, Harry?"

Harry tore his attention away from the owl and Hermione to the younger girl standing in front of him with her pale aura still shimmering from the sunlight. He nodded his head and got up from his spot before he walked away with Luna, she reached her hand out and took his in hers.

"I hope you do not mind me holding your hand, Harry. I quite like holding your hand, you make me feel safe." Luna looked away from their hands and to Harry again, seeing that he was studying her.

"No, it's fine. I'm happy that I make you feel safe. What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry probed to her as they walked further away from the quilt and closer to the lake—they weren't close enough to it so that people could stop and talk to them, but close enough that they could see who was enjoying the sun today.

"I am happy that you have been able to meet your godfather, Harry. I have yet to meet my godmother and I am certain that I do not want to meet her," Luna quietly told him, she still didn't know how to feel about the fact that her mum had let _her _be her godmother but her daddy didn't have any siblings and her mum only had her biological family left.

"I'm sorry about that, Luna. Thank you though, that means a lot to me." Harry let his eyes flicker towards the Forbidden Forest—watching as the leaves rustled and movement appeared in between the trees. He knew what was in that forest and Luna had a feeling that she knew what was in there too.

"I know that it was hard for you to watch him escape, Harry, but I also know that you would rather him be safe than endangered if he had stayed." Luna let her eyes flicker away from the forest and towards where Hermione and Ron were—the bushy haired girl and bright red haired boy were talking about something, probably to do with what they were going to do for summer.

"What are you going to do for summer this year?" Harry asked her, which in return made Luna look away from the teenagers and to the tall and lanky boy that was next to her—he was still holding her hand.

Squealing in the distance from a girl, one that sounded as though they wanted attention, allowed her to know that some girl was probably pushed into the lake in a not so subtle way of flirting. She never saw anything appealing in being pushed into a lake or how she would find it as a great way to be flirted.

"Daddy has been saving up money for us to go to Sweden. We heard that's where the Crumple-Horned Snorkack migrates from." Luna looked up at him again, as some wind appeared and ruffled his hair and almost brought her sun hat off of her head. She brought her hand that was free up and placed it back on her head.

Harry frowned and looked at her perplexed, "you normally don't sound as hyper as I thought you would be when it comes to your creatures."

Luna sighed and looked away before she looked back up at him—she hadn't even noticed that she had started to swing their clasped hands until she felt it. "Daddy comes up with random creatures sometimes and asks me if they are real. I tell him they are, because I know that he is trying to feel as though he can finally see what I can see. I have no idea if they are real or not but I am not saddened if I never find one."

Harry nodded his head, digesting her words, only to pause when they saw that someone was being pushed into the lake. She had been climbing onto the rock to talk to someone—and now that Harry noticed who it was that was getting out of the water he couldn't help but laugh.

"I can't believe it. Pansy Parkinson just got pushed in the water." Harry watched as other Gryffindor's were laughing at the sopping wet Slytherin that looked as though she was going to kill anyone who came near her.

Luna turned to the rocks and found that it was Blaise Zabini that was sitting up there and that he had been reading something. "Oh, it seems as though Blaise did not want any company."

Blaise looked as though he was sighing in annoyance before he shut the book that he had been reading closed and got up from his spot on the rocks. He made his way down the rocks and began to walk past Pansy—she started to scream at him and he didn't even look down at the third year, instead he continued walking—his face up in a dignified state, as though he didn't know what she was yelling about.

"Really, Zabini, are you certain that it was Zabini, Luna? I didn't think that he would be like that. Then again he does look like he's tired of everyone all the time," Harry mused, earning a nod from Luna.

"Oh yes, if you did not know Blaise has had five stepfathers throughout the years. His mother is currently dating another pureblood wizard, but his stepfathers always died in mysterious manners—leaving Mrs. Zabini a widow once more. I am certain that he is tired of the high expectance that his mother puts on him along with having to be friends with the Malfoy's and the Parkinsons' and so forth," Luna told him, which in return had Harry shrug his shoulders.

"I think I couldn't stand being in that situation to be honest. I do like the fact that he probably did push Parkinson in the water," Harry admitted and Luna couldn't help but laugh—her laughter was like wind chimes that had little seashells and gems that her mum had discovered on a windy day.

Harry smiled at her more before he brought his hand away from hers and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "So how much do you know about other purebloods, Luna? I know that you know a lot about purebloods."

Luna perked up and began to tell him about Parkinsons' heritage and how her family had come from mostly Ireland and how one of her ancestors happened to be the Minister of Magic, then she talked about how accomplished Mrs. Zabini was at her job (though she was extremely wealthy she still worked), and then she told him about his own father's side of the family—the Potters.

"Oh yes, Mum quite liked your grandparents, Harry. She said that when she saw them wandering around Diagon Alley they would be gushing over you and would often have play dates between you and their friends' children. Mum said that your mother was very nice to her, and that one time she sat down with my mum and they talked about Hogwarts and what it was like having children now."

Luna smiled at the memories of her mum telling her about seeing school mates from Hogwarts and them wanting to talk to her in Diagon Alley even though they had no reason to do so. Her mum wasn't that very popular in Hogwarts, she was a brilliant Ravenclaw of course but her mum stayed to herself.

Harry patiently watched Luna fall into her daydreams and then she looked back at Harry again, "I think that they were nice people, Harry. I am certain that Sirius told you wonderful stories about your parents."

Harry frowned, "not really, we couldn't really talk because of Peter Pettigrew trying to kill me, but he said that he would try to keep in contact with me. Professor Lupin told me some things about my dad though, so I know a little about my dad."

"Well then, let us hope that you do indeed keep in contact with Sirius, Harry. I would love to hear stories about your father and all the wonderful adventures he had with Sirius and Professor Lupin."

Harry took her hand again, squeezing her hand as though to tell her that he appreciated what she had just said, before they began to head in the direction of where Ron and Hermione were—Amite must have flown away because they were by themselves again and they were talking about their fourth year and what classes they were thinking about taking.

And so ended Luna Lovegood's second year at Hogwarts…


	34. happy 14th Harry

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**33:**_ happy 14__th__ Harry_

**Ginny helped Luna **with her birthday cake for Harry this year—while Luna would make the cake Ginny would ice it and add the blue candles on the top. The two of them had spent as much time as possible as soon as Luna had gotten home—they spent time near the pond and swam when they were in the mood to do so (Ginny thought that her best friend was joking when it came to swimming in the Black Lake in the middle of winter but she was received with confirmation by her brothers that this actually happened), along with watching Ginny sit on one of her brother's brooms while Fred and George would take turns riding the broom so that Ginny would still feel as though she could play Quidditch.

Ginny had discovered that she had fun playing football in the backyard with one of the footballs that her parents had found downtown in one of the stores and bought it for her. She was often seen kicking the ball around and trying to learn cool tricks like the signature kick it up the air and bounce it on her knee. She also wore knee pads and muscle shirts with shorts and football cleats most days.

She was making a beautiful garden that was closer to the pond, with seeds that Neville always sent to her during the summer or during breaks. They often wrote letters to each other and Ginny found that she had quite a green thumb.

Luna made Harry not only a birthday cake this year but she had also made little packets of Gurdyroot Tea so that he could try some of the tea that she had adored. She had told him through countless letters that they had been sending to each other throughout the summer (he kept talking about how much he couldn't stand his aunt and uncle and cousin), that she drank the signature tea and he became perplexed by the tea that the Lovegoods drank.

So when Luna was done with the cake and had the tea in its little packets, Luna turned to Amite. She had perched herself around the house on pieces from Luna's signature mysterious creatures that hung out from the walls. Xenophilius was not that happy when he first saw the owl do that but he was frightened that the owl would do something to him if she was provoked by him and told to get off the pieces.

She was currently sitting on the kitchen table though, her feathers ruffling from the wind that came through the open large window the table was up against. Calling for the owl, Amite flew towards her owner and landed next to her—her head turning to the colorful box that held the presents.

"I want you to take this to Harry, Amite. Only stay if he has something that he wants to give me, if he doesn't then come back home, all right?" Luna waited for the owl to nod her head or hoot and when she did let her know that she understood her Luna tied the box to the owl and watched her soar out the window within a matter of seconds—faster than normal.

Ginny was sitting on the couch differently—she had her head tilted down to the ground and her legs were against the back cushions so that her feet were showing at the top of the couch. She had no shoes on—there was dirt caked on the soles of her feet and she wore denim overalls over a plain green t-shirt.

"Is Mandy enjoying London?" Ginny probed from her spot, which in return made Luna walk around the couch and sit down on the coffee table that was in the middle of the sitting area—it was actually an old tree stump from the forest.

"Oh yes, her cousins haven't been to London before. They've been here of course, but they've never had the time to come to London. Her cousin Ambrose currently goes to Ilvermorny, and he's about to start his fifth year there. They don't usually perform spells with wands if you didn't know. They just learn to think it or say it and the spell usually works."

Ginny sat upright and leant against the arm of the couch closest to her, "so how many cousins does Mandy have? Are any of them Muggles?"

"Well there's Ambrose, of course. Then there are the twins, Dollie and Eldora, they are both witches too and they're his younger sisters—they are currently ten. There are two other cousins but they are Muggles, they're Duff and Destiny. They are in their early twenties and go to New York City University and Harvard University."

"One of them is going to be a lawyer, that's cool I guess. I know I couldn't deal with being a lawyer. That's something that I think Percy would have done if we were Muggles instead of witches and wizards," Ginny supplied, scrunching her nose back as she remembered her brother.

He wasn't that nice, he had stayed home and he never wanted to do anything (he had started a job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation)—he had given her the cold shoulder, it had already been a year since she had lost her magic but she still felt as though sometimes she could use comfort from other family members than her parents and the only ones that had done that were Fred and George and sometimes Ron but Charlie and Bill were busy and were way older than she was.

"I'll ask Mandy if she'll send me a family picture of them next time. Her Muggle side of the family is rich, upper middle class. She loves going over to America and spending time at the lake house and hearing tales from Ambrose. She says that it's funny though because Ambrose is exactly like Hermione—they're big bookworms and very close minded."

"He sounds _dreamy_," Ginny teased, earning a smile from Luna as she observed her red haired best friend even more.

"Anyway, for real, how come you aren't going to the Quidditch World Cup? You know it is Ireland verses Bulgaria, right? It's been forever since we've hosted the cup," Ginny questioned Luna as she sat upright once again—she threw her arms out as though to express that she couldn't believe the audacity Luna had when it came to dismissing the World Cup just like that.

Luna on the other hand, well what could she tell her? She couldn't tell her that she had gotten another letter from her dearest cousin and how the sleek owl didn't hesitate to fly away as soon as she pulled off the enveloped letter.

Instead, Luna peered at Ginny with her unblinking eyes and responded softly, "Oh, I wasn't interested in going. Mr. Waterborne was going to offer for us to stay with him if we wanted to—I think that he just wanted me to come so that he could interview me and ask me what it feels like to be with the Golden Trio."

Luna could hear movement upstairs, it was the sound of her bedroom window hitting against the wall—it was really windy today. If she was outside the whole entire area around her would be enveloped with the sound of her mum's wind chimes moving rapidly.

"Yeah, I'd probably feel the same way. I'm actually surprised that Hermione is going but then again she'd be fascinated to see the World Cup," Ginny mused, her voice fading for a second before she blinked away those thoughts.

Ginny ended up staying only for another hour before she noticed the time on her watch that let her know that it was time for her to head back to The Burrow. She hugged Luna goodbye before she left and shut the door behind her.

Luna watched from the window as her best friend heading around the corner and out of her eyesight—a part of her was glad that Ginny had lost her magic, only because of what had happened in Hogwarts last year and how she didn't want Ginny to see her brother frightened at the aspect of Sirius Black loaming over him again with a knife and slashing him instead of actually trying to kill Peter Pettigrew.

Her daddy was currently spending the day with Mr. Waterborne in his study (Mr. Waterborne's study) going over the latest issue and what they needed to keep and what they needed to scrap.

Knowing that she was alone again she got up from her spot where she had been sitting and headed up the spiral staircase so that she could reach her floor of the house. She still couldn't believe that he had written to her and told her to stay away—she didn't think that he would manage to evade his parents when it came to actually writing down that warning, but he did.

Reaching the top floor of the house, Luna headed over to her nightstand and pulled one of the drawers open so that she could pick up the parchment paper that had been closed with a wax seal of her cousin's family crest.

Opening it up, Luna reread what it said.

_ Dear Luna,_

_ I have found myself writing to you once again. I thought that I would not have to do this but it seems as though I should. My mother and father know not that I write to you and I hope to keep it this way, especially since I am frightened that they will find a way to have you kidnapped and tortured if they can—no my father will._

_ I have a bad feeling about the Quidditch World Cup, cousin. I know not what is going to truly happen but I have heard whispers and none of them sound good. I think that something bad is going to happen and I don't want you to go to the World Cup, I know that I must but I wish for you to not go._

_ Please heed my warning, and know that it is not safe to go to the World Cup, I want you to be safe. We might have grown up in two different worlds but as I said before, we are blood and I want to make sure that some part of our bloodline will have a purer chance at life than the others—including me._

_ Do not try and write back, I beg of you. You know that it is too late for me, dear Luna. If my mother had actually gained enough courage to leave Father after shortly having me then we would not be in this situation. We might have been raised together under the same roof and be in a more sibling like situation than this…strange and perplexing situation that we have found ourselves in._

_ Do __**not **__come to the World Cup, or else I will find you and one of the endless port keys that are around the field and make sure to send you back home._

_ I shall see you when school starts again._

_ Your cousin_

If things were different Luna would feel warmth at the knowledge that her cousin cared for her but she knew that it wasn't right to feel warmth from this. She could be happy if this was just normal stuff—if he was protecting her from bullies and this was an alternative universe where he would actually protect her from the bullies but instead he was telling her to not go to the Quidditch World Cup because he thought that something was going to happen.

Instead it made her sad, because she knew that what he had said was true too, that if things were different then he would have been growing up in the same household as her and he would have been like a brother to her instead of a distant memory, one that wasn't really there to begin with.

She had met him once before her mum had died—they were in a Muggle coffee shop instead of anywhere near Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. They knew that if they met anywhere near wizards or witches that they would be found out and everyone would be able to connect the dots.

She remembered seeing a ten year old boy sitting across from her with wonderment but also weariness—it was almost as though he had been debriefed before meeting her and was told that he had to distance himself from her even more and not get too happy because this would be the only time that they would be able to act like normal cousins. After that they could throw it away and not even decide to try and pick it up and fix what they could.

Luna went over to the wardrobe with the letter and opened the doors—hearing the groaning from the old wood and crouched down so that she was at the bottom of the wardrobe. She pushed away her shoes and found the box that her original present from her cousin and aunt had sent her along with the jewelry set. She sat the letter into the box and closed the lid—not even stopping to look at the emerald stones and the sunlight that shimmered in and hit them in the right spot.

Shutting the wardrobe doors once she had stood up again and smoothed down her polka dotted red and white sundress—Luna headed over to where the ladder was that was off to the side in her room. She dragged it towards the wall that she had recently painted white and thought for a moment before she knew what she wanted to paint.

Unlike times before, where she would have painted just little flowers here and there she wanted to paint a scene of two family members standing on either side of a tree and the both of them were reaching one of their hands out while the manor in the background was different on both sides.

On the boy's side of the tree it was cold, it was in dark hues and one could see that he lived in complete misery. On the girl's side of the tree it was warm and lively, flowers grew everywhere and unlike the dark grey stone it was instead a bright white marble with ivies running up and down the outer walls—bright purple flowers growing from them instead of just withered ivies on the boy's side.

As she placed her art apron on over her dress, Luna began to paint the skyline at the very top of the wall and tried to keep her breath steady as she thought of that day even more. She thought of how his eyes had lit up when they first saw her and how he had went to rush over to her so that he could hug her and spin her around and tell her that he had waited forever to meet her.

Submerging herself into her painting, Luna felt her face crumble and tears begin to dribble down her cheekbones. Her heart was aching in this very moment—all she wanted to do was see him be happy again. For him to have that large smile on his face, for him to not be afraid of the barista as she sat something down in front of him and not flinch as though she was waiting for her to strike him across the face.

All she wanted was for her cousin to be there so that she could tell him that everything was going to be all right and she was going to listen to his warning. Only, he wasn't, so the ache stayed longer than she wanted it to.


	35. darkness arises

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**34:**_ darkness arises_

**Almost as though **she had her face pushed as close to steaming hot bath water before she was dunked under the surface Luna waited with unhealthy breathing and patience. She hoped that her cousin had been wrong, that her uncle and the _others _were cowards and that they wouldn't attack the Quidditch World Cup.

Her daddy wasn't any better either; he almost seemed to hate the fact that he had to stay at the house with Luna instead of hanging out with Mr. Waterborne. It made Luna feel frustrated to say the least, she knew that Mr. Waterborne was a nice guy but he was a bad influence sometimes.

She knew that the better of a relationship she had with the Golden Trio the more that Mr. Waterborne would try to strengthen his friendship with her daddy so that he could find a way to be with them and accidentally run into them—claiming that he had been leaving.

Today was the day before Harry and the others would be leaving for the cup, and she nervously let her fingers intertwine together before she realized that she was pacing back and forth on the ground floor of the house. She hit the side of the table without paying attention and groaned in irritation at the fact that she had just spilled her cup of Gurdyroot tea from her tea cup.

Heading over to the kitchen counters, Luna grabbed some paper towels and headed over to the kitchen table—not paying attention either to the front door opening or footsteps heading through said front door. She only looked up when she heard her name and saw that Ginny and Harry were standing in the doorway—Hermione and Ron weren't there though so she found that it was weird that they weren't there.

"Oh, Luna," Ginny tsked at her friend, not in a mocking manner, and headed forward so that she could bend down and take the sopping wet paper towels from her and headed over to the trashcan so that she could throw them in. "Go sit down at the couch, I'll clean this up. You have no idea how much I've had to clean up after Mum."

Luna knew that it wouldn't be worth it if she told Ginny that she could do it because it was her mess, she knew that the girl was stubborn and so she headed over to the couch and sat down. Harry was looking around him—marveled at the sight of all the bright colors that seemed to vibrate in their own way.

"Wow, you weren't kidding. I've never seen these many colors. I kind of like it, it suits you," Harry commented as he sat down next to her and found that she was looking away for a moment—still wondering why Harry was here. It wasn't that she wouldn't be happy that he was here but now that he was here and she knew that he would be heading to the Quidditch World Cup she almost wished that she could show him the letter that her cousin had sent her and tell him to not go.

"Luna? Are you okay?" Harry probed to her but all that Luna could do was stand up from her spot on the couch and head over to where the staircase was. She paused and took a deep breath before she spoke, "I want to know why you are here, Harry. I wasn't expecting you."

Luna flinched at how harsh she sounded but she knew that it was for the best, she didn't want to have him any closer to her because she didn't want to look at him and see those green eyes and know that he could possibly be killed at the cup.

"Luna, is everything all right? Did you get in an argument with your dad? I thought that you had a good relationship with him."

Ginny was quiet in the background, she knew that if things got too heated or awkward that she needed to step in. She slowly made her way towards the tree stump coffee table and sat down, her eyes flickering from Harry and to Luna's figure that was facing away from her.

"I—everything is okay with my daddy, I just…" Luna bit her lip and wondered what she possibly could tell him. What could she say, where was that Ravenclaw wit that she had been born with? Behind her she could hear the sound of Harry walking towards her again and she took another deep breath before she spun on her heels and stalked towards him.

Ginny straightened up immediately, she was ready to get in between them and ask Luna what the bloody hell was her problem if she struck him the face. She didn't expect though for Luna to throw her arms around Harry and place her head against his chest. She sniffled some, knowing that she shouldn't cry.

"Luna? Luna! Tell me what's wrong." Harry brought his hand up and began to run his fingers through her hair without thinking—he never dealt with this before and he didn't know how he felt about it either. No fourteen year old boy wanted a girl to be crying on him with no reason whatsoever.

"I dreamt that you died and that…" Luna drifted off, knowing that she couldn't tell him about what had happened. She promised her cousin that she would not tell anyone about this. Besides she'd be brought in for questioning due to the fact that she would know about an attack before it even happened.

Harry stiffened even more and slowly brought her over to the couch before he sat down and pulled her gently away. Luna felt tears begin to rise in her tear ducts and she closed her eyes—taking deep breaths as she tried to control herself again. She couldn't look him in the face, not yet.

"There are few people that I care about very much, Harry. My daddy, my mum, along with Ginny, they were the first few—naturally. Then I met _you_ and Hermione and Ron and Mandy and I just can't imagine losing you too. You mean the world to me, Harry. I can't—I don't know what I'd do." Luna felt someone sit on the other side and wrap their arms around her, shushing her and Luna could tell that it was Ginny that was trying to comfort her.

"Harry is _not _going to leave you, isn't that right?" Ginny gave Harry a pointed look, her deep brown eyes making him anxious due to the fact that she gave him a 'Molly Weasley' trademark glare. It was apparent that being around her mum all the time meant that she would have her mum's famous glare down pat.

"Yes, I'm not going to leave you, Luna. You mean a lot to me too. I don't think I've had a friend walk into my life the way you did. You are so creative and smart and you stand up for what you believe in but also respect that others don't agree with you. You're very sweet too, though sometimes you can be blunt—"

Ginny reached forward and punched Harry on the shoulder, glaring at him as though to tell him to apologize for saying that.

"Don't punch him, Ginny. I know that I am blunt sometimes when it is not needed. I cannot have you promise me that you will not leave, Harry. People say that they won't leave others and they try not to but death can always take them. I want you to promise me that you will at least be safe." Luna pulled away from Ginny and looked straight at Harry, her pretty eyes sad now but patient—as though to let him know that she would wait to see what his answer was and that she would respect his decision no matter what, at least she was there for him.

"I promise that I'll be safe, Luna. Just know that what happened in your dream won't happen, it was just a dream. I'm here, and I'm going to come back and I'm not leaving you. I'll be safe."

Luna could only nod her head before she showed him around the house—the ground floor and then the first floor, where a full sized bed sat in the corner for anyone who wanted to come and spend the night. There was also the printing press off to the other side and some other knickknacks that were there to help decorate the room. A couple chairs were around the middle of the room, just so that people could sit and converse with each other.

The second floor of the house happened to have her daddy's room along with his bathroom. It was closed off—it wasn't open like Luna's room was. A shower curtain rod ran along the right side of the room and around—with psychedelic patterned curtains attached to the rod.

"That is where my daddy sleeps. We both have bathrooms, but we also have an outdoor bathroom not that far away. If it is cold we allow guests to use one of our bathrooms, but if it is warm outside they can go to the outdoor bathroom. There is a claw foot bathtub, toilet and sink in there. My mum loved nature, and she often hiked a lot and eventually had someone in contracting come and built the building," Luna informed them when she turned—seeing that Ginny smiled at the mention of Mrs. Lovegood and her famous outdoor bathroom while Harry had a look of rapt attention.

She showed them her bedroom last—where she was still in the middle of working on the mural. Ginny furled her eyebrows, her eyes scanning the scene before her and then she looked at Luna, "um…this is different than you normally paint. What was the inspiration?"

Harry was quiet but she knew that he was listening to what Ginny had said—he was moving forward though and he touched the wall, thankfully it was dry at the moment. She had gotten to the beginning of the manor—she wasn't as close to making the boy and girl and for that she was thankful.

"I had a dream the other night. It was a sad one, but no one died in it. Two children lived in this manor and the girl's side of the manor was bright and lively and wonderful while the boy's side of the manor was dark and dreary and troublesome. They could not speak to each other directly so they would meet at the tree that split the manor into two and spoke while leaning against the side of the tree that they lived on."

Luna knew that the manor was not going to look anything like her cousin's manor. She knew that they would connect the dots if they saw his manor and they would ask her why she was painting his manor. Instead she had gotten to where she had thought of a beautiful French eighteenth century manor.

"Did anything happen after that? Or did they never get to see each other directly?" Harry asked this to Luna as he turned his head to her, making Luna turn her attention away from her thoughts and to him directly.

"I do not know. I woke up," Luna supplied before she headed over to where the staircase was. She motioned for them to follow and after both teenagers glanced over their shoulders at the strange mural that their friend had been painting, they followed her wordlessly.

They didn't stay long and if things were different Luna would have been wondering if she had done something wrong when it came to not really talking to them. Ginny was going along with her brothers but Luna knew in her heart that Ginny would be pushed towards the Port Keys and that she would have no absolute chance of staying behind—especially since Hermione would be there too.

So all that Luna could do was wait and hope that her cousin was wrong, and that he was just being paranoid and that living in the kind of environment he lived in made him feel as though he would hear things that weren't really there or he would hear things and think that they meant a different thing all entirely.

It wouldn't be until Luna woke in the middle of the night, lunging forward in her bed—cold sweat dripping down her face and fear gripping her that she knew that something had happened, that whatever her cousin was talking about had really happened and she would find out if Harry survived.

Her daddy was asleep and so she grabbed a blanket to cover her unmatched pajama set and rushed down the stairs—not stopping to tell her daddy that she was going to The Burrow or that she was too impatient to run there. She had a fireplace; she could easily use the Floo Network and appear through the fireplace.

Once on the ground floor, Luna rushed over to the fireplace and picked up some green dust that was in a pretty flower painted bowl and threw it into the fire—saying clear and loudly, "The Burrow!" before she stepped in once the flames turned green.

In seconds she stumbled out and fell into someone's arms. It wasn't until she had looked up that she noticed that Molly Weasley was holding her and that she had a look of surprise on her face.

"Where is he? Is he alive?" Luna probed to her, making Molly quietly nod her head before she helped her upright and moved them so that she could see that Harry was standing in the living room and that he had a look that let her know that he didn't know if he should sleep at the moment since there was still adrenaline that was running through his system.

Running forward Luna threw her arms around him, and held him tight as the blanket fell back and hit the carpeted floor. She didn't think this time when she felt hot tears fall down her face. She didn't care if she cried because these were tears of relief; the boy that she cared about was alive.

"I—I was so scared, I woke up feeling weird and I thought you had died." Luna sniffled as she felt Harry rub her back as though to let her know that she should just cry it out and not worry about messing up his shirt even more than it already was.

"I promised you that I'd come back, Lune. I'm not going to be leaving anytime soon; I can also promise you that." Harry quietly brought his hand up and ran his fingers through her tangled hair—he faintly remembered his mum doing that when he was a baby boy to his dad when he was stressed.

"I-I'm sorry," Luna finally managed to say after another minute of crying, and began to pull away from him before she grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her like a shawl again.

"I—I need to go back home. I had decided to Floo here without a second thought and I don't want my daddy to wake up and think that I'm missing." Luna turned around and began to walk over to where the fireplace was.

As she went through she didn't know that darkness had already rose from a wand and into the sky—revealing that the Death Eaters were very much alive and that they very much were still out there and hadn't been all captured and sent to Azkaban. If she had known she wouldn't know what to do.


	36. triwizard tournament

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**35:**_ triwizard tournament _

**Arriving at Hogwarts **for her third year didn't feel any different to Luna. She had been happy when she saw Mandy waiting for her near the front doors of the school—she had cut her hair into a pixie haircut and from the drastic haircut Luna found that the girl seemed even more confident than before. She had told her that she had cut her hair not only because she wanted to but also to prove that a girl could have a pixie haircut and not look masculine.

They headed up the stone front steps of the school together, their nice school shoes clinking against the stone stairs. Around them they could hear excited whispers and loud remarks about how summer was from some of the students while others were eerily quiet and Luna knew that it must have been because of what had happened at the Quidditch World Cup and how Death Eaters had stormed the event and caused mayhem, messed with the Muggle family that looked after the property, and left the Dark Mark in the sky—as though Voldemort had been planning to return and would come slithering through the trees and claim that he'd been _dying _to see them.

Thankfully Mandy had been over in America at the lake house and hadn't learnt of what had happened until she had received her Daily Prophet and read the newspaper. She had been so frightened that she had used the International Floo Network in her aunt's house (even though the house was owned by the Muggle side of her family, Mandy always had her aunt connect the fireplace to Luna's house during the summer ever since she had first met her), and demanded to know what had happened.

After telling her that she had stayed home and didn't go to the sporting event Mandy seemed a little more relaxed. Since she hadn't come directly through and was standing in front of her but had her head stuck through she hadn't accounted on having one of her cousins slip their heads through the fire and smile at Luna—and that happened to be Dollie. She had been excited to meet Luna and thought nothing more than sticking her head through the fire would be harmless.

Dollie hadn't accounted for her to be slid back by her dad grabbing her by the back of her legs and pulling her completely away from the fireplace. Her dad had arched his eyebrow up and twitched his magnificent beard (Mandy's words not Luna's—apparently he looked just like he would live in the forest and provide for himself only through nature along with wrestling bears because he wanted to).

Luna had left the Golden Trio alone today; she had wanted to be spending time with her Ravenclaw best friend. She was also smart enough to know that she shouldn't be clingy to them, even thought there was a near death experience involved with all of them.

Walking through the front doors of the school, Luna entered the Great Hall not that long after—she along with the others were clustered together when it came to her House and they made their way towards where their table was.

In the corner of her eye though Luna could see that there was another man that was sitting up near the table—conversing with Professor Dumbledore, and although Luna didn't know Quidditch that much she could tell that it was Lodovic Bagman. He had a large belly but still seemed enthusiastic as always when it came to the sport—he liked to bask in the glory days.

Sitting down with Mandy, Luna craned her head to the side and found that Madam Hooch was sitting close to him and that she was conversing to him with excitement and he beamed at her—happy that he had had someone who loved Quidditch and wanted to talk about said glory days.

"Isn't that Lodovic Bagman? If so he really let himself go. Look at that gut," Mandy commented, earning snickers from some of the Ravenclaws that were around her—agreeing with her one hundred percent. Even Cho agreed.

"What is he doing here anyway?" one of the Ravenclaws probed, earning others to ask after them—they didn't have time to question anymore when the first years arrived and made their way up so that they were on the stage steps—waiting for the moment that they could be sorted.

Luna placed her head sideways onto her palm of her hand, her eyes scanning over all of the new first years and which ones were younger siblings to ones that were currently going to school.

As each student was brought up to be sorted Ravenclaw received two new students—Stewart Ackerley, and Orla Quirke. Gryffindor received two students—Dennis Creevey and Natalie McDonald. Slytherin received two students—Malcom Baddock, along with Graham Pritchard. Hufflepuff received four students—Eleanor Branstone, Owen Cauldwell, Laura Madley, and Kevin Whitby.

Luna watched along with the others as the first years scurried to their tables and they sat down. Luna could tell though that there was something off, a lot more off than one would think. Her eyes flashed over the different teachers that were sitting at the tables and found that none of them surprised her—they all looked the same. Her eyes did linger on Lodovic a little longer though; she could tell that he was nothing more than excited to be around young students again.

It would not be until after they were eating their welcoming feast that Luna felt the strangeness in her stomach again. She knew that there was something off and that it was heading in their direction. It would be seen and it would be heard and they would have to deal with it as long as it was here.

"Why aren't you eating, Lune, usually you're really happy and eat a bunch during the welcoming feast." Mandy craned her head to the side as she stabbed her fork into meat on the plate. A few seats to the north side of where Mandy was sitting Cho was happily telling them all about her spending as much time with Cedric and wanted to avoid the topic of the Quidditch World Cup all entirely.

"Something seems off, I cannot put my finger to it, but I sense that something is coming and that it will bring nothing more than confusion and—" Luna paused, as she noted in the corner of her eye that something was heading towards the Great Hall and she felt her head turn in the direction of where the person was that was heading to the Great Hall—not listening to Professor Dumbledore as he began to clear his throat and speak, only for the doors to slam open.

Hobbling into the Great Hall with a prosthetic leg, magical false eye, and a badly damaged face was the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor. Luna felt her eyes narrow as she knew that she could feel something that was clinging around his aura and she didn't know if she really wanted to scrap back the layers of what his aura was to see what was lurking in the darkness.

"It's him. He's not good. That's all I know," Luna managed to say, only for Mandy to straighten and stiffen—as though to let her know that she had heard her and that she was going to look at the man and see if she could find something that would allow her to add to Luna's statement.

Neither of them had heard Professor Dumbledore saying that there wasn't going to be Quidditch this year (this made Cho livid with anger, having not wanted to hear this because of her only having a season of playing for her House).

Giving a tight smile (Luna could see when even Professor Dumbledore gave tight smiles) at the man, Professor Dumbledore explained who the man was—that he was Professor 'Mad-Eye Moody' and that he was an Auror. He also explained about something that some of the Slytherin uppers were waiting for—the ones like Draco Malfoy that had connections in the Ministry and such.

All Luna had heard was 'Triwizard Tournament" and how there were supposed to be the two other schools that would be coming since Hogwarts was going to be the one who was hosting the tournament—the two schools were Dumstrang and Beauxbaton. Luna had already known enough about Beauxbaton and she knew that Olympe would be pleased to hear about her country's wizarding school coming here.

She didn't know anything about Dumstrang other than the fact that they were coated in dark magic and that they had thick affiliations with the Dark Lord—so many of his supporters were associated with this school.

Luna watched as a stone goblet appeared in the middle of the Great Hall and hovered high above the tables—its platform only adding to the superiority of the event in itself. Flames flickered from the Goblet and Professor Dumbledore explained about how those who were seventeen by Halloween could be allowed to put their name in the Goblet so that they could be in the tournament. He had already put enough charms on it along with the other professors combined to make sure that no one would be able to get in that was underage.

Luna did not understand why one would be unhappy by this, how they could so easily throw their life into a horrid situation such as this. She knew that her daddy and her mum would not have been pleased with this event if it was here when they attended the school. She could see Harry's dad putting his name into the Goblet along with Sirius Black but not Professor Lupin. She did not want to think about Peter Pettigrew or what he would have done.

"Even if I was seventeen I sure as hell would not put my name in that godforsaken Goblet," Mandy told her along with the others around her—she was a fourth year and it was obvious that the only ones that would be allowed to even do the tournament were in their seventh year of Hogwarts and they were basically about to walk out of the school as it was.

Some of the other Ravenclaws nodded their heads, agreeing with her logic while others still would have liked to have their intelligence tested so that they could prove that with their logic they could win and it wouldn't be out of dumb bravery, or undying loyalty, or in a cunning way. They wanted to show that Ravenclaw was the best House out of all the four ones.

Luna picked up her Pumpkin Juice and took a sip, her eyes trailing over from where Mad-Eye Moody was sitting at the table and his magical eye was rolling everywhere. To anyone else it would be unsettling but it wasn't to Luna—she knew plenty of people through The Quibbler and others associated with her daddy that had magical moving glass eyes.

In fact it didn't even take a second later for the eye to land on her. She kept the cup up to her lips and kept her eyes on that single eye. She could feel everyone start to look at where she was looking at or at Professor Moody, in order to see where the both of them were looking at.

Luna would have titled her chin up a little higher if she didn't have the cup in her hand but she did have the cup in her hand. She kept her eyes on him though and after almost a whole minute the eye that had been staring at her drifted away and Professor Moody said that his eye was acting up on him and that he didn't mean for it to stay on Luna that long, though she could see that he had a tightness in his facial muscles that told her that he was already long tired of her.

"Should I even hex any ideas of having a staring contest with you?" Mandy chuckled as she took a sip of her own Pumpkin Juice. Luna took a sip from her Pumpkin Juice and sat it down before she turned to look at Mandy, "Whatever do you mean, Mandy? I wasn't staring at him. That must have been someone else."

Mandy smiled even more at her best friend as she laughed and rung her arm around Luna's shoulder blades so that she could give her a quick sideways hug. Luna almost squeaked from the strength of the squeeze (turns out that Mandy quite liked doing boxing so she always practiced when she was at home during the break—it was apparent that none of the professors would be happy to have the girl train in their school).

Luna sipped some more on her drink and waited for everyone else to be finished with their meal so that she could go ahead and go upstairs to her dorm. She finally sat her drink down when those around her were finished with their drinks or food.

She got up from her spot though when she was excused to leave to go to her dorm—and when she got up she could feel eyes on her. She knew that three out of the four people that were staring at her happened to be her friends and the last one happened to be Draco. She looked at him first—her eyes drifting over to him and how his handsome face was beginning to have this tired withered to look to it. She could see that being the son of Lucius Malfoy happened to be his downfall since the moment that he had been conceived by his mother.

She turned her eyes away from him, not in the mood to look at him that much longer, and let her eyes land on the trio as they were heading through the cluster. She walked through the cluster of students too—hearing about seventh years and saying that they were going to put their names into the Goblet as soon as possible. A couple others were saying that they were going to put multiple scraps into the Goblet so that they would have a better chance of being selected (for Ravenclaws they were very thick headed it seemed like).

Finally reaching the trio as they left the Great Hall, Luna was surprised with Harry wrapping his arm around her and pulling her towards him so that he could have her next to him. She didn't put her head down on his shoulder or lean against him. She just felt warmth at the fact that he held her closer to him so that he could have her near him. He didn't have to turn and see if she was next to him because he knew that Luna wouldn't avoid him.

"I don't get the point in doing the tournament, Ron," he tried to protest to Ron, but being that Ron was the least looked upon son it felt as though it would be his destiny to be in the tournament or at least Harry since he was the Boy-Who-Lived that could do anything and everything.

Luna felt sorry for Harry and she reached out to take his hand and give his hand a squeeze as though to tell him that she felt sorry for him, and that she was there for him. He squeezed her hand back as though to let her know that he knew before he disconnected their hands but she still stayed next to him. Mandy stood to her right and Ron and Hermione were standing to Harry's left (Ron was next to Harry and Hermione was next to Ron).

As long as he knew that she was there for him then she was at least a little more at ease than before.


	37. the foreigners

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**36**_: the foreigners _

** October 30****th**would be when the two foreign schools would come to Hogwarts and Luna found that people were either excited to see the students of the schools or they were hesitant towards the entire thing. Luna could not say whether she would be wholly excited towards them but she was ready for them to arrive when it came closer to the due date. She did like most of her classes though, she did like the fact that she had started Divination and she did like the aspect of Care of Magical Creatures but she did not like having Hagrid being her teacher for the class.

In her opinion he was not fit to be a teacher in the first place. He was much unorganized in his classes and he brought in dangerous creatures that were not possible to domesticate to begin with. He was always naïve and open towards the creatures that should not even be around humans.

Luna did enjoy having Herbology; she was even told by Professor Sprout that Luna had drifted in the direction of where her mum's favorite plants were. She did not linger around Luna, not like some of the students that were still trying to scan her and figure out what it was that had made Harry Potter want to be around her even more. She did not care at all of what they thought of her relationship anymore with him—she had learnt over the summer that any harboring emotions towards what they thought of her and Harry could be thrown into the rubbish bin.

As much as she didn't like Hagrid though Luna especially did not like Professor Moody because there was that odd feeling every time she entered his classroom—he seemed to like to talk about death a lot and his time as an Auror. He liked when it came to students asking him about the Unforgivable Curses (something that should not be answered in her opinion at all)—and of course he would happily tell them about them and demonstrate them to the students with an odd glint in his human eye that let them know that he especially was enjoying killing little insects and spiders when it came to the Killing Curse.

Mandy had said that Divination was the same as always in her year, that all the attention was focused on Harry and how he was going to die a horrible death. Luna could admit that she had a feeling that Harry would die younger than others—she knew that but she also thought that he would accomplish very much within that short amount of time when he was on this planet.

She had yet to receive a letter from her cousin again. She knew that there was no point for him to write to her and tell her anything, especially since they went to the same school. He would find a way to talk to her though, she was certain that he would pull her into an abandoned classroom or in a hidden area in the many corridors that there were at Hogwarts so that he could tell her his worries and opinions.

She did send letters to Ginny at least once every two weeks—and she was greeted with letters from Ginny. Sometimes she would have Neville come to her and give her different little packets of seeds from the green house to give to Ginny (of course he asked Professor Sprout if he could send some seeds to Ginny and the Herbology professor allowed him to do so).

When October 30th finally arrived though there was tension that was resonating in the air, whether it was because everyone was afraid of the foreigners and their schools or they just wanted to see if they really were what they were described to be like.

At the moment Luna stood outside with the others in the front courtyard of the school, in a crimson sweater along with dark washed jeans and her mum's hiking boots. A gray beanie sat on her head with a red fabric rose sitting smug on the side of her beanie. She had her psychedelic crotched satchel and she let her fingers dance against her sides as on either side of her stood Hermione and Harry.

Ron was excitedly conversing with Harry about the fact that he heard that Victor Krum was going to be coming from Dumstrang, conversing to Dean Thomas and Justin Finch-Fletchley too. Justin was talking stats with Ron as soon as he had an opening to do so in the conversations.

"So are you excited, Lune?" Hermione probed to Luna, making the girl tear her attention away from looking towards the Black Lake. She knew that the two schools were going to arrive at six o'clock at night—it was a few minutes till that actual time—but she didn't know how they were going to arrive to the school.

"I am interested in seeing them," Luna responded, earning a sigh from Hermione before she spoke, "well **_I_** am quite excited to see Beauxbaton and Dumstrang come to Hogwarts. I have many questions for the students about how they go about their daily schedule and how different our classes are from each other. I know that we all three have the basic courses but I want to know if there are any courses that they take that have not been offered here at Hogwarts."

"Blimey, 'Mione, you might as well enroll yourself in both schools," Ron joked, as he turned his head back towards them. He seemed really happy though—he had become really pumped since the fact that he had learnt about the Triwizard Tournament and how he could be able to watch the action in front of him (even if he couldn't be an actual champion he would rather be able to watch with his friends and root for Hogwarts—well as long as Hogwart's champion wasn't a Slytherin).

Luna ignored him, as did Harry, Hermione gave the red haired boy a tight lipped look before she huffed and turned her head away. It didn't take long for her to be looking around again, and then glancing behind her to see that Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were all standing at the top of the steps and they were looking either at the lake or at the sky.

Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick were around the students, neither of them was standing with the three that were already mentioned. They were nestled with most of those that were in their House and were checking to make sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to be doing—Professor Flitwick gave one look over towards Luna with the Golden Trio and then turned his attention towards Cho Chang and her group of friends—they were eagerly awaiting the arrivals.

It would not be until someone cried out that there was something that was moving in the sky that Luna looked up and saw that a strange shape was heading towards the school and that it was dipped down. As it came closer she was greeted with a light blue carriage pulled by a dozen winged horses.

She remembered Olympe telling her about Beauxbaton and how she had been painted over in France and transported here so that she could be hung on her corridor. She did say about how beautiful the school was when she was being taken away from the school. It was coated in gold and marble and beautiful paintings from famous French artists both Muggle and Witch or Wizard.

It also helped that Olympe told her that the Headmistress of the school was Madam Maxime and her first name happened to be Olympe too.

Luna still stood quietly, next to her friends, as the carriage dropped to the ground in a graceful sweep. The carriage doors opened and an elegant large woman stepped out with a silk powder blue floor length long sleeved dress on along with a pure white fur coat and silver high heels. Her hair was quite dramatic—it stopped at her collarbones and she had bangs that were at the perfect height on her face that made it sculpted beautifully, her hair color dark but red highlights resonated through the brown hue. She had deep set dark brown eyes and pursed deep red lips along with a slim but dramatic nose.

Behind her two boys with pale features and robes the same color as their headmistress's dress appeared and hovered next to her—they looked to be at least sixteen or seventeen, obviously in their last two years at Beauxbaton.

"Whaire eez Mon dair Dumbuhldaire?" Madam Maxime probed, her thick French accent causing murmurs from some of the students around her—some were admiring her foreign accent while others furled their features and scrunched their noses.

"Need not worry anymore, my dear Olympe, for I am here! You look beautiful as always!" Professor Dumbledore cried as he headed to the woman and smiled up at her, his eyes twinkling behind his half crescent shaped glasses. She beamed at the sight of him and giggled.

"Oh, you flattair me, Albus. Ai am 'appy to see you," she responded, as she placed her gloved hand that had been put in front of her lips when she had giggled back down. Professor Dumbledore brought her hand up and kissed her on her hand, which made her beam even more at him.

Ushering her forward politely, Madam Maxime continued forward with her chin tilted up while behind her more of her students walked out of the carriage. They were nothing more than pale blue blurs with light and dark hair (the majority of them had light hair of all colors—there was actually one red head but the majority of them were blondes), they too had their heads tilted up and prepared to go up into the school.

"Olympe will be pleased to see them," Luna dreamily commented, earning an arched eyebrow from some of the students around her except for Harry and Hermione. Hermione nodded her head, "I believe she will be happy to see French students roaming the halls this year."

Next they were welcomed with a large ship rising out of the water till it was completely open and revealed—bobbing on the water as it readjusted itself. Once settled it began to sail closer to the shoreline and everyone watched with fascination as the headmaster of the school exited the ship and made his way towards where Professor Dumbledore was—Luna almost felt nausea rise within her at the knowledge that this man was coated in nothing more than dark magic.

He had a pointed chin with a black curly beard that fell a few inches past his chin that was already beginning to turn grey. He had small but burly eyebrows and dark eyes that looked as though they could make someone pause in their steps and reevaluate everything that they had previously done.

Unlike Madam Maxime in her elegant clothes, Headmaster Igor Karkaroff wore thick woolen winter clothes. He wore a large white coat with black fur around the collar of his coat and his sleeves along with heavy snow boots that crunched every time that he would walk forward. He had a black Russian Ushanka fur winter hat on the top of his shoulder length haired head (his hair was a little less gray than his beard).

Beside him stood Victor Krum—who had his head tilted up and wasn't smiling, Luna had no doubt in her mind that Headmaster Karkaroff did not want his student to be smiling and being friendly to everyone. Unlike his headmaster, Victor was wearing blood red robes with a fur cloak clasped over them and a fur hat just like the one that Headmaster Karkaroff was wearing.

"Ah, there you are, Albus! I was—"

Luna tuned out what they were saying, she could tell that Professor Karkaroff was just being polite but he did have a somewhat fondness towards Professor Dumbledore. She thought that he had gone to Hogwarts but when there was a teaching position at Dumstrang he went and snatched it and then eventually becoming the headmaster of said school.

She ignored the fact that Ron was excitedly conversing with the boys around him, all of them talking about how amazing Victor Krum had done at the Quidditch World Cup and that they _had_ to meet him. Cho Chang seemed excited to meet him, along with Cedric—but Luna could tell that they were going to try a different approach to him than just outright stumbling in front of him with parchment paper and ink quills so that he could sign their papers.

Luna noted though that Victor Krum began to scan the students around him—seeing if there was anyone that interested him. He did pause though when he looked at Hermione and craned his head to the side.

Hermione widened her eyes when she noted too that Victor Krum was staring at her and she turned her head towards Luna, "it's not just me that's noticing that he's looking at me, right?"

"Oh yes, he seems quite curious about you, Hermione. He does not seem that friendly though, nor does he seem attractive in my opinion. Then again it is not me that he is looking at," Luna responded, finding that Hermione blushed and that she looked away, it was apparent that she wasn't used to having a boy give her attention or say anything that didn't have to do with her being too much of a smart arse.

Ron glanced over his shoulder and looked at the two of them (well he mostly looked at Hermione) and then he looked at Victor Krum. He frowned and shook his head, "I doubt that he's looking at you, Hermione. He's just looking around."

Hermione frowned and narrowed her eyes, "Oh, what's wrong with him looking at me, Ronald? Are you just jealous because you wish that he was looking at you instead of me?"

Luna quietly watched the interaction between Ron and Hermione—shaking her head at the knowledge that Ron was beginning to have romantic feelings for Hermione. She could tell though that Hermione did not have any romantic feelings towards Ron whatsoever. It would have made her feel sorry for Ron if it weren't for the fact that he was being rude to her.

Harry sighed at sight of his two best friends arguing with each other. "I wish that sometimes they wouldn't argue with each other."

"Ronald seems to like to start most of the arguments though. He is very unkind sometimes and he seems to think of himself before others. He can get very jealous and hot tempered. He is obviously jealous that Victor gave attention to Hermione," Luna quietly told him, making Harry think about what she was telling him before he sighed again.

"He's difficult sometimes, I admit but I still care about him. It is all right if you don't care for him though," Harry finally said and Luna nodded her head as she turned her attention back towards Professor Dumbledore as he ushered the students into the school so that they could go to the Great Hall and eat.


	38. the champions

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**37:**_ the champions _

** Luna had a **feeling that it was Victor Krum that was going to represent Dumstrang and most of the students of said school seemed to think so too. Beauxbaton was different however; it seemed as though every single one had put their names into the Goblet and knew that they would bring nothing more than dishonor for their families back home in their foreign countries if they didn't become the champion so they only wanted themselves as the champion.

Fred and George had tried to put their names into the Goblet only for them to be shot backwards and have full grown gray beards and winkles—obviously showing that they were looking as though they were supposed to be in a retirement home instead of being sixth years.

Mandy rolled her eyes at this and turned her attention towards Luna, "you know, when Aunt Celryn found out about the tournament she said that she was going to come marching to Hogwarts and tell Professor Dumbledore that I'm transferring to Ilvermorny, but I don't think I could stand going to the same school as Ambrose."

Luna knew that her best friend was speaking the truth. She was always bombarded with her cousin writing letters to her and asking her to give him some books that had to do with the school and he would give books to Mandy so that she could read some more about Ilvermorny. Mandy merely gave them to Hermione—who eagerly read them and shyly thought about writing to Mandy's American cousin.

"I'm thinking about sending a photograph of Hermione to Ambrose and a photograph of Ambrose to Hermione. I mean I obviously don't think that my cousin is hot, which ew by the way for anyone to think about their siblings or family members that way, but he's decent looking and he doesn't wear ugly glasses like Ron's brother does, which he deserves an ew too."

"It is a good thing that you do not like Percy then. Penelope was known for being protective of him and telling other girls to leave her Percy alone. The ironic thing is that no other girl has ever given any romantic interest in him," Luna merely responded as they watched another student put their name into the Goblet.

"At least he would be smart enough to not put his name into the Goblet if he was still here; I don't think that he's very brave though. Do you think that he is?" Mandy picked up her Pumpkin Juice before she took a sip. At the end of the table sat the Beauxbaton students and she ignored them—along with Luna ignoring them.

They were not nice to Luna and it made her sad for a second, after all she had always admired the school and they ignored her as she told them that she had Olympe De Gouges near her House tower. She had been so excited to bring them to the portrait but they merely wanted nothing to do with her—Fleur Delacour's only attention was focused on becoming the champion for Beauxbaton and her response had been the sourest of them all.

"Do not give them anymore thoughts, Lune. I know that you're thinking of them. I mean I know that you are sad that Fleur Delacour ignored you too but you have to admit that she has a resting bitch face," Mandy snickered as she picked up her biscuit and took a bite of it.

"I do not see any reason to use such vulgar language, Mandy. Ron Weasley knows and speaks demeaning vocabulary all the time. I liked him in the beginning but not so much anymore. Harry respects my opinion on Ron but I can tell that he is still very loyal to him," Luna informed her pixie hair friend.

"Yeah not really into Ron either. He seems like an A class Git," Mandy grumbled as she glanced over at the Gryffindor table—noting that Ron Weasley was conversing with Harry and that Hermione was still a little peeved at the fact that Ron had completely insulted her and he was not paying attention to her right now. She had no idea why Hermione would even form a crush on him, he was very disrespectful.

"Is this cousin of yours a Git too?" Luna probed Mandy, making her pause and think for a moment and shake her head, "nah, Aunt Celryn would have made her way to Ilvermorny and beat the crap out of him with a wooden spoon. I quite like Aunt Celryn; she is more entertaining than my Muggle aunt. She has spunk and many compare me to her more than my mum."

"How is Aunt Celryn? You say that she always spoils Amite when she visits."

Luna picked up her own biscuit and began to eat it—not really paying attention to the students that were getting up and putting their names into the Goblet, she knew that they were Hogwarts students since both Madam Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff had already had their students put their names into the Goblet.

"She was doing well last time I checked. Apparently the twins are basically ready to go to Ilvermorny already, they miss their big brother and they want to be sorted as soon as possible. I already told you that he was a Horned Serpent, apparently most of the family has been in that House."

Luna nodded her head and for the rest of the night they conversed about anything and everything, and Luna told Mandy to go ahead and send photographs to both her cousin and to Hermione—but that she should wait until after the tournament so that Hermione could be more focused on helping Harry.

The next morning though everyone was prepared to see who would become the champion for their school—Draco Malfoy reminded everyone that if he was old enough that he would without doubt be the one that would represent Hogwarts. That made everyone roll their eyes, but he was still pleased that Cassius Warrington had gotten up early in the morning and put his name into the Goblet.

Ron immediately resorted to insulting the bloke and telling everyone that he looked like a sloth and that he would absolutely demand someone else to become the champion. Luna did not care if Cassius became the Hogwart's Champion. Not much was known about the Warrington family since they weren't quite as old as other pureblood families but there had been a few family members that were supporters of Voldemort but too scared to even join him and take the Dark Mark.

"Yeah, without a doubt I'm going to send a letter to Ambrose to see if he would be interested in visiting this summer so that he can show Hermione that there are more options than Ron," Mandy proclaimed, giving an annoyed side stink eye at Ron as he earned support from almost everyone in the Gryffindor House—Harry sided with him and it did not surprise Mandy or Luna though Harry seemed not to be so passionately against it like Ron was.

When it was time for them to gather and wait to see who would be the champion for each school Luna clustered together with Mandy and the Golden Trio. She could not help but reach her hand out and take Harry's in hers. He glanced down at their hands but did not pull his hand away from hers—he squeezed her hand in reassure as though to tell her that he could _not _be chosen as the champion.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and finally spoke, "I am pleased to commence the Triwizard Tournament Goblet of Fire. I would like to remind those who are not chosen that you will still bring honor to your school in different ways; it should not bring shame if you are not chosen. I would like to start with Dumstrang."

As Professor Dumbledore turned to the Goblet the golden flames turned bright blue and shot out a parchment of paper. Dumbledore caught it and cleared his throat, "the Dumstrang Champion is Victor Krum."

Victor Krum made his way forward with no expression whatsoever on his face while Headmaster Karkaroff had his chest puffed up—clear pride at the fact that it was Victor that had become the champion of his school. It was obvious that Victor was his favorite due to his fame.

Victor went through the door that he was supposed to wait in and everyone looked back at Professor Dumbledore.

Everyone waited as Professor Dumbledore turned to the Goblet and the flames around the Goblet turned vivid blue once more before it shot out a parchment of paper. He caught it and cleared his throat again, "the Beauxbaton Champion is Fleur Delacour."

Madam Maxime stood up from her chair that she had been sitting on and elegantly clapped before she watched Fleur make her way towards Professor Dumbledore. Behind her some of the girls were crying, having ignored what he had said and still thought that they would bring nothing more than dishonor to their families.

Madam Maxime quietly told her congratulations before Fleur was told to go to the room on the right side of the stage. Fleur made her way forward and kept her hands together in front of her.

"And finally, we shall see who will become the champion of Hogwarts." Professor Dumbledore waited patiently for the flames to turn blue before the flames shot out the parchment of paper that was for his school. He spoke after a moment, loud and clear, "the Hogwart's Champion is Cedric Diggory."

Everyone cheered for Cedric—Hufflepuff was almost crying tears of joy at the fact that for once they would have someone who would be representing their school from their House. The only House that was unhappy was Slytherin and they were booing at them, only to be stopped by Professor Snape as he shot them a look that let them know that they were in the presence of two other schools and this was not how they were supposed to be representing the House of Salazar Slytherin.

Cedric hugged Cho, who had been standing next to her; she kissed him on the cheek before he made his way forward with surprise still lit on his face. Professor Dumbledore congratulated Cedric and Madam Maxime scanned him over before she decided that he would pose no threat to her Fleur Delacour. Headmaster Karkaroff almost looked as though he was going to laugh in the boy's face and tell him that he was no match to Victor Krum so he might as well give up right now.

It wasn't even a full minute after Cedric had disappeared and Professor Dumbledore was finishing his speech that the Goblet turned bright blue and a parchment of paper flew out. Both Madam Maxime and Headmaster Karkaroff stiffened as they looked at the parchment as though it was nothing more than a phantom of their imagination.

Professor Dumbledore caught the parchment but seemed to look at the parchment as though he was receiving something that was not going to be what he wanted or even expected to begin with.

**_"Harry Potter!"_**

Oh no.

Luna felt her heart tighten and she couldn't help but feel tears begin to rise in her tear ducts. She dropped her hand from Harry's and spun on her heels before she rushed out of the Great Hall. All around her she heard whispers and some people asking if she was in a secret relationship with Harry—she couldn't question herself if she would even be in a relationship with him.

Behind her she heard running and she spun on her heels so that she could see that Mandy was behind her. "No! Mandy, I need to be alone!"

Mandy knew that Luna never yelled at her and it did not hurt her feelings. She knew that there would be underlining feelings there for Harry when it came to Luna and so she respected her and turned around so that she could go back into the Great Hall—probably to tell Hermione to not come and check on Luna.

Luna continued rushing towards her Common Room after Mandy left, as some of the portraits were asking what was wrong to her. It was apparent that they were concerned about one of the most caring students that they had seen at Hogwarts crying her heart out but they did not know what it was that made her like this.

Reaching the riddle knocker door Luna cried out the riddle answer (automatically hating the riddle knocker in that instant) and hurried up to her dorm so that she could jump onto her mattress and cry even more.

When she reached her bed Luna jumped onto the bed and closed the curtains with her wand before she let out all her emotions. She remembered losing her mother and then she remembered almost losing her father—she did not want to imagine what it would have been like if she had been sent to live with her own aunt and uncle and cousin. She would have been severely depressed and would have not had any light and happiness radiate from her like she normally did.

She pulled back the covers on her bed, not caring that she was wearing her signature Halloween outfit, and leant her head on the side of her pillow while tears still continued to fall down her cheekbones as soon as she was under her duvet cover. She could not imagine losing Harry, a part of her felt as though it would become hollow if she was without him. She almost lost him at the Quidditch World Cup but this?

Luna knew tales about the Triwizard Tournament and how students had died during the tasks. She did not want to see any of the champions be dead, but to see Harry without his vivid green eyes still shimmering or that smile appear on his face as he saw something amusing or that victorious look on his face when he had won another match…

It did not take that long in her opinion for the dorm door to open and the other girls enter the dorm.

"I think she is dating Harry Potter."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's obvious! I mean they have been holding hands!"

"I don't believe it! Unless I see them kiss, then I don't believe they are."

Luna ignored them once more as they quietly made their way around the dormitory and continued to speak about her and Harry. Even though they had the opportunity to talk about how they could not stand Harry Potter or the fact that he had managed to become a champion through cheating or something ludicrous like that they instead decided that they should talk about the nonexistent relationship between her and Harry.

She almost wanted to pack her bags up and head back home while the tournament was being held. She didn't want to see the tasks but she knew that she should be strong and be there to support Harry.

Yet she couldn't help but ask herself why she did not feel disgusted at the thought of her being in a relationship with Harry and why she felt as though she couldn't live without him.


	39. the buttons

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**38: **_the buttons_

**It wasn't until **the next morning came and Luna knew that she could not stay within her dorm any longer that she had gotten up and changed into some proper clothes, brushed her hair and her teeth and washed her face. She dismissed the girls that were still sleeping, she had tired herself out from crying yesterday that she had woken up at five in the morning and wasn't tired at all.

She quietly gathered her psychedelic satchel and put some fuzzy socks on before she went down to the Common Room and sat down near the fireplace. The flames flickered warmly and cast beautiful shadows throughout the blue and silver decorated room. She was so submerged in the silence that it was not hard for her to pick up the sound of someone whispering an answer to the knocker on the other side of the entrance door to her tower.

She stayed still though and let her fingers clasp together before she heard the door open and muffled footsteps head in her direction. She had heard about the invisibility cloak from the Golden Trio but she had not actually seen someone use it in action yet. Yet she knew that it was about to happen and when she felt a hand touch her shoulder she knew that it was Harry trying to get her attention.

"I…I…" Luna didn't know what to say as she turned her head at the same time as the cloak was picked up and thrown over her, allowing her to blink a second or two before she was greeted with Hermione instead of Harry.

"Hi, Luna, do you care if we talk for a little bit?" Hermione shuffled so that she was sitting next to Luna on the ground. The cloak was moved so that their backs wouldn't be shown and the cloak looked as though it was just a hood covering them so that only their faces would show.

"Mum said that she knew when she could imagine herself with my daddy earlier than she thought, she said that she knew when she loved him. Now that I think back she was only a year older than me, only fourteen," Luna quietly spoke up, as she continued to look at the fire in front of her.

"My parents met in dental school, they were in the same classes and were rivals for about a year and a half before they realized that they were attracted to each other and decided to just see where things went," Hermione responded, as she moved her attention away from the fire in front of her and to her peculiar friend next to her.

"I'm kind of glad that you left before things really turned sour. Harry was really upset when he left and came back to see you were gone and he tried to ask us if you told them where you were going, he wanted to tell you that he'd keep his promises," Hermione admitted as she paused and they heard shuffling upstairs.

Hermione threw the cloak completely over them as they watched Marietta, Cho's best friend, come to the top of the stairs and glance down as though to check and make sure that no one was really here before she narrowed her eyes once more and huffed—she spun on her heels and went back to her dorm.

"Hermione, what are your feelings to Harry and Ron?" Luna craned her head to the side as Hermione almost widened her eyes at what her friend had said before she mentally noted that Luna needed the truth.

"Harry has always been nicer to me; it was Ron that was mean to me before we became friends. He said that I was a know-it-all and insulted me and everything that I am before he even got a chance to know me. I have forgiven him; it would be useless if I could not forgive three year old insults from him. It has to take a lot for me to not forgive someone—even if not everyone deserves to be forgiven…

"So I think that Harry is like a brother to me, the kind older brother that is quiet and doesn't really protect me until he knows that I need help and I can have his help. He has learnt through the years that I can handle things myself, and Ron…he is my friend. I know that some might think that I would be attracted to him eventually but I cannot see myself feeling that way towards him. He is a friend and nothing more, which is perfectly fine in my opinion."

Luna thought for a moment before she spoke, "Harry makes me feel safe, warm, and happy. I love his eyes, I've always loved the color green but never thought that I'd see a color as lovely as his. Others look at him and think that he's better than others, that he's more important than others just because of the fact that he survived the Killing Curse. It is called a curse for a reason; I see no reason why someone should rejoice because _that _is the reason why they are famous. I see no reason to be famous either.

"Others look at him for guidance and advice and think that he's this perfect person that is supposed to save the Wizarding World if You-Know-Who has any chance of returning, which I have no doubt in my mind that it is possible, but I know that he is just Harry. He is Harry, the boy who lived yes but also the boy that I treasure."

Luna's eyes looked down at the blue carpet and did not look up in shock at the fact that she had just said that she treasured Harry, she wasn't in love with him and she didn't love him but she treasured. She was only thirteen; she did not see why she should so hurriedly fall in love with someone.

She slowly brought her head up and saw that Hermione's eyes were starting to water and she smiled at Luna before she wrapped her arms around Luna before she held her to her, "That's all that I've wanted for him. I've wanted him to find a girl when the time is right that will love him for who he truly is instead of what he is known for being, and that might be you."

Luna blushed as she let Hermione hold her a moment longer before she pulled away and placed her hand on Luna's shoulder, "do not worry, this conversation is between you and me. I will not tell anyone about what we just talked about. If you ever want to talk more about this then know that I am all ears."

Luna observed the brightest witch of her own year get up from her spot on the carpet and made her way towards where the entrance door to the Common Room was. She fixed the cloak so that none of her was visible before she headed out and shut the door behind her closed with a soft click.

Hermione was right, when Luna saw Harry at breakfast the boy looked as though he was about to scream at the top of his lungs at the students that were around him and were spitting ill words at him—or were asking him how he possibly became the champion. The Hufflepuffs were off at their table and they were glaring at Harry as though he was the incarnation of Lucifer himself.

Luna softly made her way towards the Gryffindor table and ignored the students that were near her and were asking if she was dating him (word had spread through the grape vine from the third year Ravenclaw girls thinking that Luna was secretly dating Harry Potter).

Reaching Harry, Luna brought her hand out and touched his wrist, making him glance down at her and give her a manageable smile, "hi, Luna."

"Hello Harry, I am sorry for running away last night. I must admit that I was very distraught at the thought of you being a champion," Luna responded to him as in the corner of her eye she saw a twinkle of an eye from Hermione as she stood next to a random student and had her arms folded against her chest and her hip jutted out a little bit.

Ron had completely dismissed Harry after they had a big fight last night and for now Harry was without his best lad. He was pleased at least that Luna hadn't left him and told him that she couldn't be friends with him anymore because he purposely sought out danger and wanted to break his promises he had made with her.

"So now that she's here….I guess it makes sense if I ask you this, but are you two dating? You're always holding hands and giving each other soft smiles," a first year probed to the two teenagers—making Harry flustered. He stuttered out, "no! Luna and I _aren't _dating, we're just friends."

"Even if Harry and I liked each other enough to be in a relationship it would be a very inconvenient time to be in one. I know that if I did like Harry that way, and he liked me that way too, that we would want to be able to enjoy our relationship and be together without having to worry about the tournament."

Off in the distance she could see that Professor Dumbledore was talking to Professor McGonagall and she was listening with rapt attention to what he was telling her. She did though snap her head in the direction of where Luna and Harry were, digesting what Albus had said before she shook her head—not believing what he had just said about the two students seeming as though they balanced each other and that this tournament could let the two know how the other truly felt and possibly be together in the end.

"I mean, duh, if Harry were to **_ever _**date someone then don't you think that he would have better taste than Loony Lovegood?" one sixth year girl asked, as she snickered at the small blonde haired girl that peered up at her with unblinking light eyes that still kind of freaked the girl out.

"Don't call her that. Luna is not loony, she's creative and different and open minded and obviously more considerate than you are. She doesn't like to judge people and maybe some of you can learn a thing or two about that. She believes others when they tell her the truth and she doesn't listen to rumors." Harry couldn't help but wrap his arm around her and push her a little bit behind him so that she couldn't be directly next to him and was safely behind him.

"So you aren't dating?"

"No, Luna and I _aren't _dating. I don't harbor any romantic feelings towards her and she doesn't harbor any romantic feelings towards me."

Despite telling people that Luna and Harry weren't dating, people still strongly believed that there had to be something that they weren't telling the truth about. It was almost as though they were waiting to see if one of them would slip up—they'd be confessing something that they should have kept secret in front of someone that they shouldn't have said the said secret in front of.

So when it was only a few days later and Luna had gone the main staircase in the entrance hall of the school with Mandy next to her it didn't take long for her to see that the Slytherins were proudly walking around with buttons on their robes—in vivid green that said: **SUPPORT CEDRIC DIGGORY-THE REAL HOGWARTS CHAMPION.** It was enough that Mandy rolled her eyes and mutter, "very original, this is obviously another classic statement of immaturity for the Slytherin House."

It didn't make things any better when almost ninety percent of the girls in her House seemed to hate Luna due to the fact that she was in a secret love affair with the false Hogwart's Champion. Cho Chang didn't even look her in the eye and walked past her—it was apparent that she had found that Luna was just as bad as Harry it seemed like and that she was trying to have Harry be the one that everyone favored instead of Cho's lovely Cedric.

"Oh, they're holding out baskets with them to students. Most of them are Hufflepuff," Luna idly commented as she found that the Slytherins were actually standing near the stairs and that they had whicker baskets that held the buttons in them. They were smirking evilly when every Hufflepuff picked up a button and placed it proudly on their robes.

Cho had gone to grab one only for Cedric to take her hand and pull her over to an alcove and quietly converse with her—Luna could tell that Cedric was a very nice boy and that he didn't want to seem as though he wanted Harry to think that he was completely on board with this whole fiasco.

"I like Cedric better now that I know that he's not a complete arse," Mandy beamed, as she narrowed at some of the students that were about to head into the line to get some buttons. Some of the first and second years paused as they looked at the upper year and thought for a moment before they realized that maybe they should actually not get into this drama—it might cost their whole years here at Hogwarts—even though it probably wouldn't, they were only eleven and twelve.

"I heard that Mrs. Weasley was going to send a Howler to Professor Dumbledore and demand that he not allow Harry into the Triwizard Tournament, but I think that she knows that it would do nothing, it's too late," Luna revealed to Mandy as they began to head down the stairs. Mandy wrapped her arm around Luna's so that they were joined together by the elbows.

While Mandy made her way down the stairs with an air of confidence and a sickly sweet look in her eyes others knew if they tried to test her today she would show them ways that she could get away with murder. It made Luna smile at the fact that her best friend cared this much about her—even Hermione cared about her! Hermione confined in her and she confined with her about feelings, like normal girls did to each other!

It was quite wonderful!

Reaching the bottom steps Mandy passed by Pansy Parkinson and slapped the basket out of the girl's hands. The basket went flying and the buttons hit the stone in harsh thuds—some of them changing to where the message said: POTTER STINKS.

Pansy reached for her wand and Mandy turned to the girl completely after she noticed the wonderful message of the boy that her best friend could possibly be creating romantic feelings for and arched her eyebrow up, "Try me bitch."

Pansy seethed and went to bring her wand up so that she could shoot Mandy in the face with a nasty hex only for Professor McGonagall to walk into the hallway and find all the buttons and Slytherins holding ugly messaged buttons.

To say the least she was pretty livid and her mother instincts kicked in, she had basically put Luna down as her own cub now that she knew how much Harry cared for her and needed her in this time of difficulty.

Luna walked into the Great Hall with Mandy as behind her Professor McGonagall was handing out detentions and detecting points so fast that no one could truly count how many of the points had disappeared in their hourglass.


	40. Rita's Romantic Scoop

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**39:**_ Rita's Romantic Scoop_

**If the devil **had a journalist many would point towards Rita Skeeter, editor of the Daily Prophet and gossip fueled over confident extraordinaire. When she had come into Hogwarts and held her head high up with a delightful look upon her face—her green ensemble still as bright and glittery as always everyone seemed to be thinking that everyone's personal stories and secrets were about to be discovered and laid flat out upon the front page of the Daily Prophet.

To say the least Hermione was the worst when it came to seeing that curly bun haired woman turn the corner with her stylish green glasses and too perfect features (some claimed that the woman sold her soul in order to be able to be so good at journalism while others claimed that she had gone to some potion maker and drank some potion that made her look young and beautiful forever).

"Ugh, just look at that…that…" Hermione was lost at words as the woman fixed her purse and entered one of the empty classrooms—prepared for the moment that she could have a interview with the champions and learn the truth, but both Hermione and Luna knew that she was just interested in seeing Harry Potter and making the whole article about him.

"Tramp, is that what you were looking for, 'Mione because let me tell you she's hated over in America. They aren't that bad in the journalism field over in America but those who are subscribed to the Daily Prophet are just people that don't know how to mind their bloody business. My aunt is only subscribed because she wants to know what's going on over here but she doesn't believe what that tramp says anyway, she always checks with me to know the true facts," Mandy suddenly piped up as she appeared next to them—eating a biscuit that she had nicked from the Great Hall during breakfast.

"I wasn't going to necessary call her that but you've basically described her perfectly," Hermione admitted and Mandy smirked at her before she finished her biscuit and wiped her hands clean.

They knew that it was the Weighing of the Wands today, and that the champions would have their wands checked by Ollivander the wand maker that was the best in England and gave out all the wands for the Hogwarts students. Luna also knew that Harry's wand held a very special phoenix core that was the brother of Voldemort's—he didn't like to talk about that part of his wand but he did treasure it.

"Better watch out Lovegood, when it comes to what Rita is going to write. She's probably going to mention about you being the love interest for Harry, I hope that you're ready to take on the rumors," one of the neutral students said when they passed by her—as though to tell her that she could just run up to her bed and hide for the day once the Daily Prophet came out.

"I have expected this much. If it weren't directed to me then I am certain that it would have been directed towards Hermione. The tabloids are very sexist when it comes to things of that sort; they think that when a person of interest needs comfort that they will say that the other sex best friend will be in a relationship with them and that they are there to comfort them. I just so happen to be the one that has been chosen instead of Hermione," Luna quietly informed them—seeing that Hermione almost choked on her spit and scrunched her features at the thought of her having romantic feelings towards Harry.

Even Mandy seemed to think that was kind of disgusting, "No, if Hermione is going to have romantic feelings towards anyone it's going to be Ambrose."

Hermione gave a confused look at Mandy as though she didn't know if she had heard Mandy right. Mandy almost laughed at the look that Hermione gave her but she waved her hand, "I'm not being really serious, 'Mione. I know that if you fall in love with Ambrose that it will be because you want to and not because I'm forcing you to fall in love with him. You can't force love, it just happens."

"I'm not interested in having a relationship right now, Mandy. Of course you know that and have respected the fact that we are going through mayhem right now and boyfriends are not our priorities at the moment. I do indeed wish to communicate with him, he is very smart and I would like to write to him and debate about topics that I wish to discuss with him. He seems really nice," Hermione responded, earning a smile from Mandy as she absorbed what her friend had said.

"Well if you do get married I suggest that you keep the microphone away from me," Mandy teased her, while Hermione shook her head at her friend—wondering what she would do without such a outspoken and confident friend, something that she never knew she needed.

Luna did not know when Harry would be interviewed or when he would have the Weighing of the Wands. She knew though that it would be while she was having lessons so she didn't worry about finding Harry and telling him good luck—she knew that he would have good luck. Even if he had bad luck with these things, and all the Dark Arts teachers before (yes Professor Lupin was one of them since he almost attacked Harry without being in his right sense of mind when he was a werewolf), he still managed to scrape through and come out alive.

She did find out after the lessons were over from the other Champions. Fleur was insanely upset—she thought that she was going to have a good article about her and her accomplishments (an equal part that still made her sound as though she was the best in her opinion), and she had exclaimed in French out in the open about how horrible Rita Skeeter was and how she needed to be fired.

Luna smiled secretly, since Fleur did not know that Luna knew French now. Ever since last year she had had Olympe De Gouges teach her French and she knew it well enough to know a basic knowledge of it. She hadn't told her friends about it yet—she thought that it would be funny if they found out randomly when Fleur would say something and Luna would respond to her.

"Why are you smiling like that, Luna? I don't trust that smile," Hermione wearily looked at her friend as she probed this to her. Luna looked over at her with her signature unblinking gaze.

"I do not know what you mean, Hermione. I am just smiling normally," Luna spoke as they walked down the countless corridors and were heading in the direction of where the Great Hall was so that they could have dinner.

"Anyway, I heard that a bunch of Slytherins were trying to hex Mandy since she insulted Parkinson and told her that she was a bitch but Mandy managed to avoid them or completely block them.

"I mean they don't care for Parkinson either and they have this weird loyalty towards their own House, but the only one that didn't hex her was Blaise Zabini. Do you think that he has a crush on her? I mean he always is looking at her and almost smiles at her—which I don't think I've ever truly seen him give a genuine smile towards anything," Hermione jabbered—she wasn't someone that was up to gossip but she did like talking about things she had heard about her friends and it seemed as though Mandy always had something to be gossiped about.

That girl was over confident and she was ready to say anything that was on her mind even if others did not agree with what she said.

Luna hummed as she listened to her friend and ignored those that walked past her and shook their heads—as though to ask if she was even worth the love of Harry Potter. She did not know if she would be worth the love of Harry Potter but she knew that who ever would be the one who would steal Harry's heart they would be a lucky girl indeed and she applauded them for this.

Entering the Great Hall silence came and everyone looked at Luna but she ignored them and felt Hermione grab her hand before she pulled her over to the Gryffindor table. Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall looked like they were going to protest about her being at the wrong table but Professor Dumbledore merely brought his hand up, as though to silence what they were going to say.

The professors sighed and sat down, acted like they were focused on their food, but everyone at the staff table was quietly eavesdropping on the conversational behavior at the Gryffindor table.

Sitting her down next to Harry, Hermione made her way around the table and sat down across from Harry before she gathered her food and placed it on her plate. Conversation began to slow start again and Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Harry still looked peeved about earlier.

"Hello Harry, I hope that Rita did not cause too much trouble for you," Luna quietly commented before she reached forward to take her food and place it on her plate. She was stopped though when Harry brought his hand out and touched her wrist—grabbing her entire attention.

"I am sorry that people think that we are dating, Luna. I am certain that you would deserve someone more special than me and for that I hope that you can not hate me. I am not sorry though for telling Rita that if she spoke any ill words towards you that I would make sure that she would be ruined at the Daily Prophet," Harry admitted to her, his eyes showing nothing more than truth and harshness towards Rita Skeeter.

Before she could think, Luna took her hand from his (he looked as though he expected for her tell him that she couldn't be friends with him anymore because he was the worst person she ever met) and placed it on the side of his face—cupping his cheekbone. She softly told him, "There is nothing that you can do that would make me hate you, Harry Potter. I have never felt so grateful and blessed to be given a friendship with you and if one day we are meant to be together because it is fate then there are worse things in life than being with you."

She saw that Harry loosened up his features and smiled at her with the most beautiful smile she ever saw. She blushed and pulled her hand away from his cheek before she turned and found that Hermione was holding a spoon up to her mouth and that potatoes were falling down onto her plate—her eyes were wide like saucers and she looked as though she had seen a big plot twist in a Muggle soap opera.

"What the bloody hell did I just see?" Lavender Brown managed to say, she was sitting next to Luna and she too looked as though she had seen something that she did not possibly think would happen.

"I think we just saw Luna basically telling Harry that if she falls in love with him that there are worse things in life than that," Neville added, and an almost gleeful look appeared on his face at that thought.

"LUNA LOVEGOOD!"

Luna flinched when she saw that Mandy was getting up from her spot at the Ravenclaw table and was beginning to march towards where the Gryffindor table was. Thankfully Professor McGonagall was already rushing down the steps that led up to the teacher's table with Professor Flitwick and they were going to head in the direction of where Mandy was because the last thing that they needed was even more drama to be added to the situation.

Luna couldn't look at Harry for the rest of dinner, while Mandy was being fussed at for not being ladylike by Professor McGonagall—Luna looked down at her plate and knew that Harry had not said that he was against what she had just said. She merely nibbled on her food because her stomach was twisted and she never thought that she was going to say anything like that.

She had never been brave like this before and the fact that the supposed Gryffindor brave part of her decided to throw everything out of the window and give Harry an almost post-love confession made her wish that brave part of her would have waited for a better time than here at dinner with everyone sitting in the Great Hall.

When dinner was over Luna got up from her spot at the table nervously and went to leave only for Harry to take her hand, "there are worse things than ending up together, Luna. I'm happy that you said that, I don't feel guilty anymore about making you feel as though you'd have to be a relationship with me."

Luna felt her mouth fall open and she didn't have time to respond before she heard the clicking of shoes heading in her direction. She turned her head and saw that Mandy was marching over in her direction again and had a look of pure determination on her face. She almost squeaked when the girl reached her and grabbed her by the back of her robes and began to drag her towards the Great Hall doors.

"You are so going to tell me what the bloody hell just happened. If I didn't know any better I would have thought that you were confessing your feelings for each other, which I might add is like the worst thing to happen at this time!" Mandy shouted as she dismissed those around her that were looking at her as though she had sprouted a third head.

When they reached the Common Room Luna managed to wiggle herself out of Mandy's hold and bolt up the stairs to her own dorm. She shut the door behind her and Mandy cursed, knowing that it would be best if she didn't go in there and demand to know the truth—she knew though that she would get the truth from her soon.

Luna slowly changed into her pajamas and brushed her hair and her teeth and washed her face before she went over to her bed and sat down. She could hear the sound of conversations stirring downstairs and people wondering if Harry and Luna were going to get together now.

She groaned as she fell backwards onto her bed and bounced a few times before she got used to the mattress. She curled on her side and waved her curtains closed with her wand before she brought her hands up and covered her hot face.

She wondered what her mum would have said if she had still been alive. She wondered if her mum would shake her head and tell her that she was a handful and that she shouldn't regret what she had just said. She wondered if her daddy was going to choke on his spit when he found out about what had happened not only in the Great Hall but also what happened in the Daily Prophet.

Most of all, Luna wondered if she was already beginning the stage of falling in love with Harry Potter. If so, it was at the worst timing possible.


	41. first task

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**40: **_first task_

**The first task **was on November 24th.

Luna was with Hermione and Harry during her free time so that she could help them figure out what the first task of the tournament was going to be. She stayed in the library with them and sat while scanning through different books—she couldn't count how many times she saw Victor Krum standing in the corner of the library acting as though he was reading something or looking up something because the times that she had seen him do exactly that happened to be countless.

She did not move any progressively towards dating Harry, but that might also have to do with the fact that if she ever did date him she would rather he be alive and enjoy being her boyfriend than being dead. She knew for certain that he would have felt the same exact way if their roles were reversed.

It did not help that Mr. Waterborne had tried to come up to Hogwarts so that he could visit Luna and introduce himself properly to Harry, since he thought that the article that Rita Skeeter had written was actually true and she was indeed dating the Boy-Who-Lived. He was thankfully pushed away, Professor Dumbledore knew that another rumor hungry journalist was the last thing that they needed at Hogwarts—especially one who only cared about being connected to Harry because his employee's daughter was supposedly dating Harry Potter.

Hermione showed no interest in Victor Krum though, it was apparent that her entire focus right now was on Harry and she didn't want to have some little fling with a boy that she probably wouldn't see again.

It wasn't until Harry came into the Ravenclaw Tower late at night and found Luna sitting on the Victorian loveseat—sketching, as a cup of Gurdyroot Tea sat next to her (her daddy had sent some tea packets to her randomly) with steam curling up from the surface of the purplish red liquid that their search for the first task would finally be finished with.

"Luna!"

Luna turned her head and looked at Harry as he took the hood of his invisibility cloak off. "Hello, Harry, it is very late. I was not expecting you. I am experiencing insomnia right now, which is why I am still awake."

Harry furled his eyebrows and peered at her for a moment with confusion absorbing itself into his green irises until he shook his head and dismissed what she had just said, "I found out what the first task is about."

Luna straightened up and patted the spot next to her. Harry came over and sat down next to her before he threw the cloak over the both of them. She curled her legs up and put her sketch on her lap as she turned to look at Harry directly—she knew that if anyone came downstairs randomly like Marietta did when Hermione had visited her last month then they would not be greeted with anything.

"How did you find out?" Luna craned her head to the side and Harry began to tell her about how Hagrid had told him that he needed him to come see him and he showed him the four dragons in enclosures. He also happened to see Charlie Weasley—who was the second son of Molly and Arthur Weasley and took care of dragons over in Romania (he also happened to be Ginny's favorite brother).

"How is Charlie? I know that he was very distraught when he found out about Ginny losing her magic. I was certain that he would have sent the dragons after You-Know-Who if he could," Luna inquired, making Harry chuckle at the fact that his odd best friend was wondering how Charlie was.

"He's doing great, Lune. He asked how you were and of course asked me if I was dating you—which by the way, we've got the seal of approval by him…" Harry's face became red at that last part of information that he gave to Luna, earning a small smile again from Luna at the memory of Charlie.

"I will go to the library and ask Madam Pince if there are any books about dragons, I am most certain that there will be some. I will do some research on them so I can help you." Luna reached her hand out and placed it on Harry's hand; they moved their hands so that their fingers intertwined together. She leant over so that she could lean her head on his shoulder.

They stayed that way for a few minutes until Harry knew that he needed to go back to the Gryffindor Tower so that he could get some sleep. She whispered goodbye to him as he fixed the cloak so that he was completely invisible and disappeared through the Ravenclaw door.

As soon as Luna had some time to go to the library she entered with Hermione tagging along with her. Luna had told her that she would look up the dragons and Hermione said that she was going to look up spells that could help with Harry trying to get the false egg from the mother dragon.

Luna had gone into one of the aisles only to pause when she saw that Draco Malfoy was standing at the end of the aisle. He was looking at something but he paused when he noted that she was at the front of the aisle. He found her wearing her hair parted back and her wearing a light green blouse, denim overalls and her mum's hiking boots. She also happened to be looking at him with those unblinking eyes again.

"Hello Draco, what you are doing here? I am helping Harry." Luna turned her head and began to look down the aisle when it came to dragons—she was still listening to him, but she had a feeling it was to get away from Goyle and Crabbe.

"I needed to get away from the goons. I thought that the library would be a good place, they avoid the library as much as possible." Draco leant against one of the bookshelves and watched the odd girl stop and pull out a book before she analyzed the book—flipping through the pages.

"Yes, Goyle and Crabbe do not seem as though they are very bright. I do not know if they have any talents to begin with." Luna kept the book and began to scan the spines of the books around her again—pausing only when she had gone to grab one and he placed his hand on her wrist to stop her from doing so.

She turned her head to him and found that he was scanning her and taking in everything that she was. She did not look away from him, nor did she sense that she was in any danger. She kept her eyes on him as he spoke, "it's not true, is it?"

"Harry and I are just friends, Draco. There is nothing that you need to worry about, nor do I think that your opinion of me and Harry and the state of our relationship will determine it." Luna glanced over her shoulder when she heard shuffling on the carpet—she knew that things would get quite ugly if Hermione came around the corner and saw Draco supposedly tormenting her.

"I think that it would be best if you let go of me now, Draco. I don't think people seeing you in this state of emotion around me would be for the best. I know that your father holds your status very dearly and I do not want to see you get in trouble with him," Luna quietly told him and Draco let go of her when they heard the person that was walking towards their aisle turn into it.

"Luna! Great news! I think I found something that could help Harry! I'm surprised I didn't think about it—" Hermione entered the aisle while holding the books that she had brought out and paused when she looked up and saw that Draco was still standing near Luna—Hermione was smart though and knew that Luna always told the truth and did not harbor any feelings towards Draco.

She shuffled her books into one arm and brought out her wand before she pointed it towards Draco, "get away from Luna, Malfoy or I swear that I will hex you into oblivion. I don't know what it is that you two know about each other but you will not treat Luna like that."

Luna plucked the book that she had been reaching for earlier when he had stopped her and spun on her heels to head over to Hermione.

"Shut your mouth, Mudblood."

Luna spun around and plucked her wand out from behind her ear and stalked towards the light blond haired boy. "You will _not _talk that way about Hermione, Draco, or I swear that I will do worse things to you than just mere hexes."

Draco's eyes widened at the small and odd girl holding her wand out at him and almost pressing it into his throat. Hermione's own eyes widened as she looked at her best friend and didn't imagine that she would ever see something like this—she knew that if pushed Luna would prove her bravery and strength but she didn't think that Malfoy calling her Mudblood would evoke this wrath.

"Do not forget that, Draco." Luna spun on her heels again and walked over to Hermione before she took a deep breath and turned to her, "I think that I am finished here, Hermione. I'm going to check these books out; do you have any books that you need to check out?"

Hermione couldn't speak and she merely nodded her head before she followed Luna out of the aisle and in the direction of where Madam Pince was standing behind her desk—her eyes scanning over the two students before she decided that she would not have to report them to the Heads of their Houses.

Hermione didn't tell Harry what had happened in the library and Luna didn't feel anything towards that fact. She knew that she would not have cared if Hermione had told Harry about the event. She knew that Harry would expect something like this to eventually happen and he would become angered at Draco for even thinking about cornering her or grabbing her and demanding to know the relationship between her and Harry.

Instead Hermione excitedly told Harry about the spell that he should do and it was the Summoning Spell (from the look that Harry gave Luna had a feeling that he had just been informed of the spell before Hermione had). Harry had agreed with Hermione when she had said that they should practice the spell but Luna knew that he was only agreeing to it because it was a matter of life or death if he didn't perfect the spell.

She sat in when it came to some of the practices that Hermione had with Harry, they had snuck around in the middle of the night and always rotated in different abandoned classrooms in order for them to not raise suspicions from Mrs. Norris and Mr. Filch. The last thing that they needed was for the creepy caretaker and his pesky cat to turn them into Professor Dumbledore or the Heads of their Houses.

It all came down on the morning of November 24th, when all the students were ushered to the stands so that they could watch the first task unfold. Luna had squeezed Harry's hands in hers and told him to be careful before she had headed to the stands—she wore his scarf he had gifted her and her amethyst headband too.

Sitting down with Mandy, Luna took deep breaths as she saw the first dragon—which happened to be a Swedish-Short Snout. Cedric Diggory was the first one that had been picked and he came out—it was apparent that he was nervous but he took a deep breath and stalked forward.

Luna watched as Cedric managed to transfigure a rock into a dog and distract the dragon for a moment. He had went to get the golden egg from the nest and halfway through the dragon turned around and burnt his face. Cedric muffled a scream and grabbed the egg before he managed to get away—immediately he was being ushered to be taken care of by Madam Pomfrey.

The second champion was Fleur Delacour and her dragon happened to be a Common Welsh Dragon. Her technique was different—she didn't transfigure any of the eggs or the rocks. Instead she enchanted the dragon to sleep and went forward to get the egg. Sadly as soon as she was close enough to the dragon it sneezed and some of its fire hit her skirts. She widened her eyes and took out the fire before she grabbed her egg and rushed off—not taking any real damage like Cedric did.

The third champion was Victor Krum and he walked out with an air of confidence. He was facing a Chinese Fireball and he bravely made his way forward—still showing nothing more than confidence. He shot out a Conjunctivitis Charm and managed to blind the dragon. He didn't manage to keep the dragon from destroying some of her real eggs, so he got potions deducted even though he did get the egg.

When Harry came out silence resonated immediately, faster than any of the others, and Luna leant forward with Mandy. They both grabbed hands and felt their hearts race as Harry called out the Summoning Spell with his hand out as though he was going to catch something.

It took almost a whole minute before they heard a whooshing sound and Harry's broom hit his hand. He climbed onto the broom and shot off towards the Hungarian Horntail—which was the fiercest of them all. He maneuvered around and confused the dragon though she was not happy at that in the least—she blew fire more fierce than one would imagine and swung her tail around, prepared to strike him from the sky and burn him to a crisp.

Harry swooped down in a good angle and grabbed the egg, though at the last moment the dragon managed to get a good swipe on him and gave him a good gash on his shoulder. He hissed but flew back towards the tent that he had come in through—all the while eruptions of screaming arrived, most of them were of wonder and happiness but there were selective few that did not care.

Luna shot up from her spot at the bench and began to rush towards the stairs. Mandy jumped up just as fast and excused those who Luna had bumped into—telling them that she was just eager to see Harry, and that was all that they needed to know.

When they reached the bottom of the stands Luna booked it even faster, her hiking boots thudding against the cold frosted grass as she moved with determination. If it weren't for Mandy being athletic she would have been stopping and gasping for breath, instead she managed to keep up to Luna.

She did not have time though to grab Luna to stop her from lunging at Harry and wrapping her arms around him—causing him to widen his eyes and hold her close to him. Madam Pomfrey began to demand that Luna let go of Harry, while Professor McGonagall looked as though she was about to tell Luna that she needed to be more ladylike than this (though she did have a small smile on her face).

Mandy shook her head at the sight, sending a glare to Fleur Delacour when she looked at the two of them with distaste.


	42. Yule Ball

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**41:**_ Yule ball_

** It was to **no surprise that Luna was chosen to be the one who would go to the Yule Ball with Harry, but with Ron still searching for a girl to take to the ball it was apparent that no one was really that enthused about going with Harry's best friend.

If things were different Luna would have felt really sorry for him but she didn't—she knew that it was embarrassing for him, George and Fred had their own dates to the ball and Hermione decided to go stag since she didn't feel as though she should have to dress up for a boy (news had spread fast when she had rejected Victor Krum's invitation to go to the ball with him—girls both hated and loved him being rejected).

Neville was going with Parvati—having asked her and she had accepted. It was a surprise to others but Luna knew that Neville was beginning to look more handsome and that his cheekbones were becoming more defined. He had given Parvati a flower that his Gran had sent to him from her manor that was usually found in India (when Neville had sent a letter to Gran asking her how to ask Parvati to the ball she decided that she would have that covered). Parvati was from a strong pureblood line from India and rumors had circulated that both Parvati and Padma were betrothed to pureblood Indian wizards back in their homeland.

It was a few days before Luna would receive her dress robes that her mum had owned when she was her age and she was currently sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room with Hermione and Mandy. The two girls were sitting near the fireplace and they were playing Wizarding Chess—both of them had pure concentration.

Harry was attending ballroom dancing with Professor McGonagall (yes it was mandatory but when she found out who Harry was going to the ball with she was determined to make sure that Harry would be perfect or at least almost perfect when it came to the first dance). Luna on the other hand was not being given private ball room dancing lessons—her mum had taught her how to waltz when she was little.

Parvati was curled up in one of the many assortments of chairs and was looking through an Indian fashion magazine—she had a pen with her and she was marking clothes that she had wanted to buy. She and her sister quite loved gold and jewels but not in the cheap and tacky way.

"Parvati, are you ready for the ball?" Luna craned her head to the side as Parvati looked up from her magazine and transferred her attention to the pale girl. With her beautiful Eastern dark skin and long black hair and red Bindi in the middle of her head she looked like the completely opposite of Luna. She was wearing a red satin blouse and dark washed jeans.

"Oh yes, Mum and Dad are sending me my traditional robes I wear for special events. I am pleased that Neville asked me to the ball. I know that we will have a nice time. Are you excited to go with Harry?" Parvati sat the magazine down and fixed how she was sitting on her chair so that she could put all her attention on Luna now.

Luna smiled as she remembered Harry asking her to the ball on the first week of December and she had agreed. "I am."

And she was.

She was so happy that she had been asked to go to the Yule Ball by a boy that wasn't disgusted with the thought of eventually dating her. She liked to think that they had all the time in the world to be together although she knew that it wasn't really like that—if she closed her eyes she could grasp to that thought.

Luna knew who Mandy was going to the Yule Ball with although she hadn't told anyone who it was. It was obvious from the nice letter that she had in her hand the day after Luna accepted Harry's offer to go to the ball together—it was the cliché old fancy envelope with the wax seal on it that was a deep green. She knew it wasn't Draco—he was going with Pansy Parkinson.

When Luna received her mother's robes from when she was her age all that Luna could do was hold the box close to her and smile softly—at the knowledge that she felt as though she would have her mum with her at the ball. Maybe her mum's robes would give her luck when it came to her and Harry.

On the day of the Yule Ball Luna found herself being woken up by Mandy, who had managed to sneak into her dorm. Luna craned her head to the side and Mandy laughed a little, "come on, and wake up, Lune. It's the day of the Yule Ball."

"What time is it?" Luna probed to her, making Mandy roll her eyes and wave her hand as though to dismiss what her friend had said. She sighed after a moment and responded, "it's like six in the morning, you're lucky that the girls in your dorm are very deep sleepers. I basically kicked the door open in excitement."

Luna sighed and peered up at the ceiling before she allowed Mandy to help her out of her bed. Mandy began to look through Luna's chest (with permission of course) and brought out a random white t-shirt and dark washed jeans. She handed them to Luna and she changed into her casual clothes before Mandy grabbed her wrist and pulled her in the direction of where the bathroom was.

Entering, Luna was sat down on a stool that was in front of the sink and Mandy studied her for a second before she picked up a brush that was sitting on the side of the sink. She began to brush through Luna's hair, "do you have a preference in how you want your hair to be? I was thinking that I should give you some curling hair potion and then we can put your hair up in a bun."

"I do not care, but that seems very nice. I think that would be good," Luna responded, knowing that Mandy would sigh at the fact that Luna was very casual with the whole thing and that she wasn't demanding for her to do a certain thing.

"It's a good thing then that it's Christmas Day, and we don't have any classes." Mandy dropped the brush that she had in her hand and as it clunked to the ground she groaned, "I completely forgot about that. I'm so sorry Luna. I was just so excited for the ball tonight and I just immediately jumped into it at some ungodly hour in the morning. The least I can do is to give you your present."

Luna got up and picked up the brush before she sat it down on the sink and drifted out of the bathroom. Mandy followed after her as Luna hummed while she made her way down the main stairs in the Common Room. Once in said Common Room she headed over to where the Christmas tree was.

Sitting down cross legged, Luna pulled out the small gift wrapped present that she had picked out for Mandy. Mandy reached forward and pulled out her present for Luna before she handed it over to her. Luna was already pulling the gift wrap off and when she did so she smiled warmly at the little present that had been picked out for her by Mandy.

Nestled in the small box there was a tiny little sapphire jeweled butterfly brooch. Luna picked it up and began to run her fingers against the sapphires before she looked up at Mandy, "thank you, Mandy. It is quite beautiful. Sapphires happen to be one of my favorite jewels."

Mandy beamed at her in response, "don't mention it, Luna. Thanks for this sunflower hairpin. It looks very old though." Mandy moved the little box that held the sunflower hairpin so that she could see it better in the sunlight—and when she found out that it was indeed a vintage sunflower hairpin she smiled even more.

They spent the rest of the available time before they would get ready for the ball lingering in the Common Room. They sat and read some of the books that were provided from students that had long since left Hogwarts. Some of them dated back to the seventeenth century—apparently Shakespeare's distant relative had gone to Hogwarts and was sorted into Ravenclaw.

Knowing when the boys would be up, Luna and Mandy put some shoes on and Luna grabbed a soft sweater jacket to put over her t-shirt before they left the Common Room and went in the direction of where the Gryffindor Common Room was.

When they went through the portal after giving the Fat Lady her password neither of them imagined that the room would be overrun with students being given food that was making students have side effects. Mandy shook her head and made her way in the direction of the two troublemakers, Fred and George. They were eagerly writing down everything that was going on.

Luna on the other hand went over to where Harry and Hermione and Ron were sitting on a comfy leather couch. They were talking freely and when they saw her heading over to them Hermione gave an upbeat smile to Luna. She was wearing a forest green sweater along with dark washed jeans and fuzzy socks. Harry and Ron were wearing their signature Weasley clan sweaters—though Ron still seemed to be thinking that there was something that was really wrong with his sweater since he kept scratching his neck and other various spots of showing skin.

"Hello friends and Merry Christmas." Luna sat down on the carpet even though they were opening their mouths as though to tell her that she could sit up there in one of the numerous chairs. "I hope that you enjoyed your presents I got you."

"I did, I'm excited about the book that you got me Luna. I didn't know that there were so many different wizarding schools out there. I mean I know that there is Ilvermorny but still." Hermione picked up the book and showed it to Harry and Ron again—Ron shrugged and thanked Luna for the candies that she had gotten him.

"I knew that you would enjoy it. How about you, Harry, did you like the presents I got you?" Luna craned her head to the side and found that Harry was blushing before he nodded his head, "Yeah, I did. Thanks for the Vinyl record player and the record. I'm actually surprised that you like Prince."

Luna perked up and nodded her head, "oh, yes. Mum always did like Prince, she also liked David Bowie. I find both of them quite interesting."

Ron looked as though she was talking another language entirely while Hermione gave her own opinions on the artists. Luna glanced around and saw that Mandy was learning how to throw the piece of disguised candy tricks from one of the twins so that she could learn how to throw properly and have it hit Pansy in the back of her head and get the sticky candy stuck in her hair.

Luna let her eyes wander over everything else and only looked away when she was welcomed with the two presents sat down next to her. Ron did not get her a present but she did not feel hurt in the least when it came to this. He did look apologetic though and she gave him a reassuring smile—it made him grumble another apology before he got up and shuffled away.

By the time that she had been told that it was time to go back so that she could get ready for the ball at a proper time Luna left with a new winter coat from Hermione that was a light pink, and an old camera (Harry said that he had randomly found it when he went up to the attic at his aunt and uncle's house just because he could—apparently it might have belonged to his mum).

Mandy ran to her dorm room when they arrived back at the tower while Luna gently headed to her dorm. Around her mayhem ensued from boys that were nervously waiting for the girls that were in their same House or they were just nervous period since this was their first dance.

Entering her dorm, Luna went over to her chest and pulled out her robes and gown that went underneath the robes. She went over to one of the numerous mirrors that were in the room and changed out of her day clothes and into her ball clothes. Around her she heard zipping of dresses and curses from some of the girls as they almost fell over completely when they were putting on their deathtrap heels.

Smoothing down her outfit, Luna let her fingers brush against the fabric of her robes and then her dress. She hadn't believed that it would have fit perfectly on her but this was proof that they did fit.

She stood there, admiring herself, before she heard Mandy calling her name. Grabbing her silver ballet flats so that she could slip them on after she sat down on the stool that Mandy had grabbed earlier, Luna entered the bathroom and sat down on the stool before she put on her silver ballet flats. Mandy complimented her as she grabbed the hair potion and began to run it through Luna's hair.

Luna watched as her hair became a beautiful curly mess before Mandy managed to scrape it all up in a high bun (she also put light makeup on Luna). She motioned for Luna to give her wand, and Luna pulled her wand out from behind her ear before handing it to Mandy. Mandy slipped it in at a weird angle on her bun and smiled before she took a step back and admired the sight that was before her.

"Thank you, Mandy. You did a wonderful job, not only on me but also yourself. I am happy," Luna quietly told her friend before she got up from the stool and another witch grabbed it so that she could sit down on it and look at the directions on the straightening hair potion that she had recently bought.

"Come on, let's go down. The boys won't believe what will hit them," Mandy chuckled as she hooked her arm around Luna's. They easily made their way around the crowded students and left the Ravenclaw Tower before they went in the direction of where the entrance hall stairs were.

Once they reached it they let their arms unhook and Mandy turned to Luna, "I want you to know that you are beautiful outside just as you are beautiful on the inside. If anyone ever says anything that hurts your feelings know for certain that if Harry doesn't hex those arses enough then I will. If you need me don't feel as though you have to wait till the ball is over to talk to me."

Mandy pulled away and took a deep breath before she took a step forward and began to head down the stairs. Luna watched her friend walk down the stairs in a crimson long sleeve satin dress and a white fur laced witch robe over it.

Luna took a step forward and glanced down—seeing that it was indeed Blaise Zabini that was waiting at the end of the stairs and he was _actually smiling_.

Once Mandy had her hand kissed by Blaise, Luna took her own deep breath before she began to head down the staircase. Around her she heard murmurs—asking if it was really Loony Lovegood that was heading down those stairs. It made her feel giddy and happy and just pretty.

Her witch robe happened to be actually a cloak and it trailed behind her as she walked—it was the galaxy as a whole and it was alive and vivid as a whole. It had been enchanted to act as though it was really the galaxy and the colors swirled and changed and shooting stars shot across the cloak.

Underneath her cloak she wore a deep purple long sleeve tulle gown and it fell just long enough that barely showed her shoes. She also happened to wear her galaxy necklace that she had received from Mandy (it was an added bonus that Mandy had been extremely happy about).

Reaching the bottom of the stairs Luna saw that Harry was standing all alone and that his eyes were wide but they were still oh so stunning in her opinion. His hair had been somewhat gelled back (it was apparent that his hair was too naturally mess to stay slicked back), and he wore his nice black robes over his dress clothes.

"Hi, Harry," she managed to whisper as she stopped and Harry blinked a few seconds before he made his way forward so that he could take her hand in his.

"Hi, Luna," he whispered back as they squeezed their hands together—as though to silently let the other know that they looked absolutely beautiful.

As they performed their first dance together they glided across the Great Hall floor with an ease that neither of them knew that they had. She laughed and giggled and he soaked in all that she was and she found herself soaking in all that he was when she loved how the enchanted snow fell and hit his black hair.


	43. Hogsmeade

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**43:**_ Hogsmeade _

**The next Hogsmeade trip **happened to be in mid January, a time that Luna would begin to get excited for her birthday. She knew that she used to not care for her birthday as much as others did before she had begun her friendship with Harry and the others. They gave her wonderful presents and they sat with her and listened to her as she told of those usual creatures that were floating throughout the Common Room—Neville would sit with them while reading a Herbology book and tell stories of when he was little and how he would get in trouble with Gran.

So when the Hogsmeade trip came Luna did not expect to hear the words that came from Harry's lips.

"I was wondering if we could go to Hogsmeade together, just you and me. I mean as a friendly visit, but I wouldn't mind going on a date with you when this tournament stuff is over with."

Luna almost dropped her books that she had been holding as she was heading to her next class. Some of the students that were drifting by almost laughed—she heeded them no attention since she knew that things like that were amusing and they would have done it with any other student.

"Oh. I would love to, Harry. I wasn't expecting it to be a date, of course. I do know that the tournament would get in the way and we need to focus all our attention on finding a way to accomplish these tasks. So yes, I accept your outing to Hogsmeade. Maybe you will find a birthday present for me there," Luna remarked—blushing at the end from the teasing that she had added on.

"Maybe that's why I'm going," Harry teased back, but from the look on his face after he said that it seemed as though he never expected that he would actually flirt with her. He was only fourteen—he'd never flirted before!

As it would turn out Mandy was going to Hogsmeade with Blaise. She had told Luna in secret that they were going on a date and Luna knew that things were going to get bad for Mandy when it came to their House. Having a Slytherin as a boyfriend meant that things were going to go to hell in a picnic basket but if there was anyone that Luna knew who would be able to deal with the hatred and the irritating gossip it would be Mandy Brocklehurst.

On the day of their trip to Hogsmeade Luna was greeted with the majority of the students in her House wanting to go to Hogsmeade. There were still some selective few that had wanted to stay in the castle—and surprisingly Cho Chang had decided that she should stay in and be with Cedric, apparently they had wanted to spend some time alone and not worry about being stopped in Hogsmeade.

Luna dressed in a long sleeve deep purple sweater with light washed jeans, some simple tennis shoes, and a silver cotton poncho that had a hood on the back. Snow fell easily from the sky and Luna always marveled at the beauty of the snow—she had always loved the snow but seeing the snow now cascade down and touch Harry's dark locks made her love snow even more.

She met him in the line to go to Hogsmeade and they handed their permission slips from their guardians—Mr. Filch merely glared at them and ushered them forward, knowing that he could only deal with them and nothing more.

"I hope that Mandy has a good time today," Luna quietly told him as they walked out of the gates and onto the road that led down to the town. Students headed past them, of course they liked to look at them every now and then but they weren't stopping them and asking them if they were on a date.

"She'll have a good time, I'm certain of it," Harry responded—and Luna knew the truth, that Mandy would have still had a good time without having Blaise with her around Hogsmeade. She probably would have ran into some friends or gone looking through the many assortment of shops so what Harry said was true.

"It would be quite amusing if Mandy drags him around in order to find a present for me. I am certain that he would never imagine that he would have her question if she was getting the right thing for me—not that she wouldn't automatically know what would be the best for me," Luna admitted as they reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade and began to make their way officially into the little town.

Harry could see that. He could see Mandy pulling Blaise by the arm and bringing him into the oddest shops there were and saying how she admired Luna for how odd and different she was and that she never had a little sister but now she had one.

He could see Blaise quietly listening to her and nodding his head—and how if he truly loved her he was falling even more into love with her due to her kind and soft heart towards Luna Lovegood.

"What do you want for your birthday?" Harry asked her as they still headed down the main strip of Hogsmeade. Around them students were drifting in and out of shops and the bells attached to the tops of the doors would jingle when they were opened. It was a busy day and the owners of said business would earn a good amount of money today.

"Something blue or something purple, I don't really care for really anything, but I am tired of having jewelry, I have enough jewelry. I have heard there are some witch balls that they sell over here from Salem in America that are supposedly known for being glass balls that hold the souls of witches in them. It's not truly, of course, but I do like the stories behind odd things like that so I wouldn't mind having a witch ball."

Loud laughter hit their ears and they turned their heads, seeing that some upper years were heading into Three Broomsticks so that they could get some butterbeers from Madam Rosmerta.

Drinking butterbeers with Harry could wait, and Luna stepped forward with Harry next to her—their fingers still as intertwined as before. She hummed as she walked, her eyes were flickering over any and every shop and store that she passed by. Most of them were just boutiques and of course there was the candy shop—Honeyduke Candies, along with a couple bookstores.

"How is Sirius?" Luna probed to him as they watched a couple of third years marvel at the sights before them—this probably was their first time down here. Luna, though she was a third year and was just now allowed to go down to Hogsmeade, had been here before with her mum.

"He's fine; he's been keeping himself hidden. I know that if he could he'd be here but as long as he's safe and he's not going to be found then I'm fine," Harry confessed as they noted the Weasley twins were writing down things on a list outside of Zonko's Joke Shop and they were asking students as they left or entered how they felt about the whole place in general and what joke gimmicks they wanted there too.

"Daddy is doing all right too. He says that Mr. Waterborne is getting very impatient though. He wants to meet you really badly. Anything for him to be even more in the spotlight," Luna announced as they stopped by a window display and she saw exactly what she had been looking for—there were witch balls that were hanging up from the ceiling and there were other odd things from America too.

Harry looked around at the ceiling, finding the perfect one, before he turned back to her, "is it all right if I go ahead and get your witch ball? You won't know what color it is and you'll have to wait for your birthday."

Luna nodded eagerly, "oh, yes! I would absolutely adore it if you got me it. I won't look and see which you get, so I won't turn around and look." Luna kept her back to the display window now and looked forward—pausing when she saw that Draco Malfoy was conversing with his mum in the alleyway.

He was hissing at her, telling her that she shouldn't be there, but the woman had a soft voice and Luna could not hear what she was saying. Draco had always been quite loud though, so it wasn't surprising that she would be able to hear what he was saying—thankfully he hadn't gotten loud until after Harry entered the store.

She slowly made her way forward and in the direction of where the two aristocratic purebloods were—she was not afraid like some were. She kept her wand behind her ear and she did not walk with her hands nervously twitching or anything of that sort. She walked as though she was greeting an old friend and when she reached them both Mrs. Malfoy and Draco turned to look at her with confusion.

"Hello, Mrs. Malfoy, it has been a long time since I have seen you last. I hope that everything is going fine at home. I just came over here to say that Draco is being very loud at the moment and that whatever you are speaking to each other about it can be easily quieter," Luna softly spoke as she articulated carefully and precisely, knowing that Mrs. Malfoy was very particular when it came to those matters.

"You let her call you Draco?" Mrs. Malfoy hissed at her son, her voice tight and strained as she looked at him as though he had just committed the ultimate unholy sin of all.

"If it makes you feel any better, Mrs. Malfoy, it is only when we are certain that no one can overhear our conversations. We only run into each other and we only talk if I accidentally bump into each other. We do not speak unless the opportunity to do so arises," Luna informed the woman as she patiently looked at the dark eyed woman with her soft bluish grey ones.

Mrs. Malfoy snapped her head away from her, looking off to the side, "I cannot look at you. You look too much like her. Remember what I said, Draco. I must go now." She smoothed her locks of bleach blonde hair and went to apparate away only for them to hear the sound of footsteps heading towards them—ones that were heavier and ones that were obviously showing an unhappy person.

Luna turned, almost expecting to find Harry, only for her and Draco and his mum to see Professor Snape stalking over to them. She straightened her back and kept her hands together in front of her, clasped tight, and observed the tall and unhappy crooked nosed man that had the only happiness he had be wiped away on Halloween night so very long ago.

"Mrs. Malfoy I hadn't expected to see you here, nor was I expecting you to so publicly try to talk to your son in privacy. You should know that Hogsmeade's alleys are not the proper place for you to converse to your son. I am certain that Albus would have accepted the use of an unused classroom for you to speak to your son about matters that need not extra ears," Professor Snape informed them before he turned his head in the direction of Luna.

"As for you, you know better than to eavesdrop. I—"

"Severus! No, you will not punish her. I wish to speak to you on the way to take my son back up to the main gates. I see no reason as to you deducting points to Ravenclaw or serving her detention." Mrs. Malfoy smoothed down her silk winter green dress and cleared her throat before she turned and looked at Draco, "come, son. We have much to discuss as we head back up to Hogwarts."

Luna watched as Mrs. Malfoy took elegant steps forward and stepped in front of both Professor Snape and Draco. Professor Snape shot a nasty look at Draco and he moved in front of the potions professor so that he was right behind his mum. One last look at Luna from the dark professor and then the three Slytherins (two of the old and one of the somewhat new) headed up to the gates.

Behind her she heard the ringing of the bell that let her know that Harry had finished with getting her birthday present. She blinked a few times, watching as the blonde woman and her blond son walked around the corner with the dark haired man. She turned her head and noted that Harry was looking at her with concern and she shook her head, "I am certain that you looked out earlier. I am quite all right, Harry."

Harry reached her and put his hand on her arm, "I will not push you into telling me but will you ever tell me what it is that you are hiding from me? I want to know what your connection with Malfoy is."

Luna thought for a moment and finally she nodded her head, "I will tell you by the end of next school year. That should be enough time I believe for me to find a proper way to tell you what it is that connects me with that family. It is a secret that only I know and my mum did—but Daddy doesn't know of the secret. That was one thing that Mum asked me to do, to make sure that Daddy never knew the truth."

Harry furled his eyebrows at her and Luna shook her head as she took his hand in hers and began to walk forward again—this way in the opposite direction of where the Malfoy's had gone with Professor Snape.

"My parents adored each other, Harry. They loved each other like no one could ever imagine. My daddy worshipped my mum but even my mum had her own faults. She was creative, and she was odd but she was also short tempered. She had a part of her that she tried to keep hidden all the time from us but a part of me knew that it was engrained in her for as long as she had been alive and there could only be so long until that part of her festered up and exploded," Luna confided to Harry as he kept the bag that held her witch ball on his other side.

"I love my parents, Harry. I want you to understand that, but my mum was changing in the last year that she was alive. She wasn't as focused as she used to be. She wanted to work on ingredients that she had found but hadn't told any other potion makers about. She wanted to test dark magic, that nasty stuff," Luna admitted as she shivered at the memories of her mum coming home with different objects that had been cursed with dark magic.

"The ironic thing is, Harry, she was not messing with the dark magic objects the day she had died. That day she was a little bit more like her old self. That's what made it harder for me to properly mourn for her," Luna concluded as they rounded the corner and were at Three Broomsticks.

They sat in there for thirty minutes, sipping on butterbeers and talking about other things. They talked about how school was going and who their favorite teachers were (it was to no surprise that Harry was upset that she didn't care for Hagrid. She dropped the subject when she saw how upset he got about it), and then they talked about the second task as a whole.

She reached her hand out and took his in hers before she gave him a gentle smile, "I believe in you, Harry. I know that you'll win."

If only she knew what would really happen at the end of the tournament…


	44. second task

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**44:**_ second task_

**Luna peered at **the steaming cup of Gurdyroot tea and knew that something was different than normal. The shade wasn't the same and she swore that it didn't smell the same. The three other people in Professor Dumbledore's office were holding their own cups of tea—all of which were their favorite kinds. Cho Chang was already sipping on her green tea and Gabrielle was drinking some French tea that her grandmother made whenever she visited. The last girl was some girl from Dumstrang, one who preferred to speak in her native tongue and did not like to smile at all—to say that she was pretty meant that the person who said she was pretty only called her pretty because they liked to think that everyone was pretty in their own way.

She almost reminded Luna of a female version of Victor Krum and she looked just as mean and dangerous. In fact she was quite muscular for a girl and she had thicker eyebrows—not ugly eyebrows, no, but thicker ones. She had somewhat strong cheekbones and a good chin but her eyes were a vivid ice blue that still surprised everyone.

She was supposedly one of the Quidditch players from Bulgaria's sister and was having an on and off relationship with Victor Krum (they were currently on and they did love each other—maybe at one point they had, no one knew the whole truth).

The Russian girl almost spat at the sight of Luna. Apparently she did not like Harry Potter at all and she scoffed at anyone that was associated with him. She also seemed to think that he should have been killed as a baby, only because of the fact that no one should survive the Killing Curse (apparently she approved of the curse since she thought that only the strong should live).

She took a long sip of the tea and almost spat it out, "Что это дерьмо? (What is this shit?)"

Luna saw that Professor Dumbledore's warm smile had vanished in a second, "Miss Stepanov, please know that I will not tolerate that kind of language in my school. It is very inappropriate."

Iskra, which was her name—preferred if they called her by her Russian name and not the non-Russian name. Of course most people ignored her and called her by her non-Russian name. Professor Dumbledore was not one of those people and he liked to call people the names that they preferred to be called yet he thought that her non-Russian name was proper at the moment (well at least it would be if he had said her first name instead).

Cho Chang grimaced at the ugliness that was present when it came to Iskra. She continued to sip on her green tea—the steam that was waffling off the cup was warm and inviting and Luna could tell that if Cho was not on the floor having a seizure or throwing up then taking a sip of her Gurdyroot tea should be all right.

Closing her eyes, Luna took a sip of her tea and felt the warmth of home wash through her. She knew that it tasted funny but she also knew that sometimes she had gotten tea packets that were a little ripe. She continued to drink while Iskra claimed that she was done and that she was going to head back to see the second task.

Yet the last thing that Luna saw before she felt darkness swallow her was the sight of Iskra tipping over and falling down in a heap on the floor. Luna soon followed and knew not what would await her when she would wake up.

The only other time that Luna had passed out was when her mum had died. The blast knocked her straight out and when she woke she was without a mother and she was being checked over to make sure that everything was all right—her magic core was perfect and she had to have therapy the first year without her mum.

The therapy helped but she wasn't suicidal and she wasn't depressed. There was a difference between depression and mourning in her opinion and she felt no need to have medication. Her daddy on the other hand had been prescribed so many different medications and potions that he accepted them and acted as though he would take them but Luna knew the truth. Her daddy merely threw them away when they got home and claimed that he was getting better.

Things could have been worse. Her daddy could have turned into an alcoholic or he could have turned into an abusive father but he did neither of those things. He did research and she should have known better but she was only nine and she didn't think about him looking up different potions and seeing which ones had the best effect on killing, but if she did she knew that it would have been hard and difficult to make sure he would never commit suicide.

So when she woke freezing cold and completely drenched in water she felt betrayed and she felt angry. She had never felt this kind of anger before—it was boiling hot and she knew that she had been violated. She had trusted Professor Dumbledore and she had been naïve and drunk that stupid cup of tea and the next thing that she knew she was being pulled out of the lake and there was cheering.

Actual cheering!

And it angered her so, that they could honestly think that they could have innocent students being taken advantage of and drugged so that they could put their lives in danger during the Triwizard Tournament.

She felt the arms around her tighten and she looked up to see that Harry was crying, he was actually crying and she could tell that it was angry crying. So many people were known for crying when they were mad—it was ugly and it was messy and it was true and it was real and it was a vivid display.

He headed out of the water and handed her over to Mandy, since she was standing at the docks and she helped her out of the water. She felt a towel be wrapped around her and she couldn't help but throw her arms around Mandy and cry—truly cry at the fact that she was put into a sick sport like this.

"They took advantage of me. They drugged me," Luna cried into her best friend's shoulder as she shivered from the cold. Mandy kept her arms around her tightly and she turned her head in the direction of where Professor Dumbledore was before she gave him a scorching glare that made him pause his clapping and see that he was about to face the wrath of many people.

"Shush, you're all right. You're all right, Lune. I'm going make sure that they know that they cannot get away with that," Mandy promised as she slowly headed to the end of the dock and towards the actual shore. There was silence and everyone was staring at the sight of Luna Lovegood actually having her own self peeled away and exposed in a manner that they never saw.

Luna was so distraught that she had not heard the sound of Harry rushing into the water again and diving under—in order to save Fleur Delacour's sister, Gabrielle, since Fleur had not succeeded in getting her sister.

The walk was long and Mandy had a look in her eye that made even the Slytherins second guess themselves and wonder if it really was worth their mocking comments. They knew that they would have been angered too if they were in the same boat as Luna—especially since most of them loathed Professor Dumbledore with their whole entire being.

Luna was still shivering, and if she wasn't inside soon enough she would probably get pneumonia because of this. Their footsteps were haste and when they entered the castle again they were welcomed with warmth. The portraits all were shocked and they were wondering what was wrong.

Mandy helped Luna into the bathroom in their tower and stood near the shower so that she could help Luna if she almost tipped over again. The steaming hot water helped Luna and when she was warm enough she got out and allowed Mandy to dry her off since she was still so weak.

Mandy gave Luna some of her pajamas (Mandy was indeed taller and curvier than Luna but she knew that the girl needed heavier clothes), and Luna slipped on some undergarments and then the navy blue pajama set. Mandy wrapped her arm around Luna's shoulder and helped her into Luna's bed before she went into her own dorm and grabbed some book she had been rereading (it was Jane Eyre) and came back into Luna's dorm before sitting down next to Luna.

Luna fell asleep after a while and Mandy kept reading, knowing that if anyone tried to wake Luna up she would make sure to charm them so that they couldn't talk. She was _not_ in the mood to protect her sister from these idiotic girls.

What she didn't expect though was for the dorm door to open and Hermione rush in—seeing that Mandy had taken care of Luna. She had fear in her eyes and there were tear streaked cheekbones on her, as though to let them know that she had been crying too but she had to make sure that Harry was all right.

Hermione grabbed one of the numerous chairs in the room and sat it down next to Luna's bed before she quietly asked, "Is she all right? Wait, of course she's not, I'm certain that she feels violated. I also know for certain that Harry is going to be extremely angry at Dumbledore for doing this. I thought that man knew how much she means to him and that Harry's basically falling in love with her…"

Mandy digested what she had said before she closed her book and sat it down next to her on the nightstand. She sat upright and put her hand on Luna's when the girl shifted. She turned her attention to Hermione again.

"We both feel as though Luna is our little sister, it is quite obvious. She is too kind and sweet and pure in my opinion to have been tricked into having this happen to her. They saw two fourteen year olds experiencing their first love for each other and they thought that it was perfect for their little riddle that they had so they probably invited them all to his office separately and then gave them tea so that he could talk to them. Next thing they knew they were waking up at the Black Lake—being carried out by the person that they care about."

Hermione hastily agreed, knowing that she couldn't imagine what it would have been like if she was in love with someone and finding out that they were in danger only because of the fact that she loved them so. She did love her parents, and she would always make sure that they were fine and safe—that was partly the reason why she learnt so much so that she could know protective spells to use against those who wanted to hurt her parents because they were Muggles.

It was not even an hour and half later that they heard yelling down in the Common Room. Hermione got up and went towards the dorm door and walked out—quietly shutting the door behind her.

All of the Ravenclaws were standing in the Common Room but there was a parting spot from someone moving forward.

"Mr. Potter please, stop at once! You are not allowed up in the girls' dorm!" Professor Flitwick's voice reverberated and Hermione began to head forward, not caring that she was pushing people away. A few of them shot her dirty looks but none of them said anything because they knew that she was not in the mood to deal with them—one of her best friends just experienced something traumatic.

"I don't care! I already lost so many people that I love, I don't want to lose her either!" Harry's declaration was more powerful than Professor Flitwick's loud demanding voice—he was a kind and nice man but when he was provoked he would show that he was not to be tested with.

Hermione slowly began to take a step forward again, finding that Harry had tears that were dripping down his cheekbones. She felt a gasp appear from her lips—she had seen him devastated before, but the fact that this boy had basically admitted that he loved Luna in front of the whole Ravenclaw House proved how raw this love was and how open and throbbing it was—how much he hurt to have the girl he loved be safe in his arms or at least safe in front of him.

"Harry, she's asleep. Yes, she's all right. I have been waiting for you to admit that you love her and I am happy that you love her. You two deserve each other, but she does not need you yelling. She has been through enough today." Hermione had made sure that her voice was calm and that her hands were up so that she could show that she was being truthful and that she meant no harm.

Harry did not sniffle but he was still crying and he brought his hands up so that he could press them against his forehead. He hadn't felt this kind of love before. He had started off with a crush on her. It was so easy to fall into this path of love—she had always been so kind and gentle and she was so different. She believed in things that he did not believe in but she did not mind to be friends with those that did not believe in what she saw.

She let him feel as though he was a normal fourteen year old. She made him laugh and she made him look at her with amusement at how she explained things or said blunt things that made him look at things differently. She hummed when she walked and she often peered at people with her whole soul and she let it sit out there and show that this was who she was and that they could take her as she was or they could miss out on the opportunity to do so.

"I just want her. I want to see her at least. Just to make sure that she's all right. I'll talk to her when she's awake, I promise." Harry looked at Hermione with pleading eyes and then he turned to Professor Flitwick. The man frowned and nodded his head. He followed them though, and when Hermione began to make her way up the stairs she could hear the conversations that reverberated behind her.

Mandy was still sitting on the bed and had opened her book again—skimming through the pages but she stopped when she saw that Hermione and Harry were entering the room. She looked at him as though to let him know that she had heard him and when he passed by her he swore he could hear her mumble, "it's about time," under her breath—in an amused way of course.

Luna was curled up, in a ball, and her hair was wavy as it pooled away from her. She was breathing normally and her chest moved up and down—above them her witch ball levitated. If it was still light outside the blue and purple would shimmer down their colors and hit her beautifully.

Yet Harry still thought that she was beautiful lying there—and as he sat down at the end of the bed and Professor Flitwick allowed him to stay for five minutes, Harry silently promised to Luna that he would make sure that she would never be in harm's way ever again.


	45. third task

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**45:**_ third task_

** It was **like a blinding neon hue was radiating around Harry and Luna and everyone knew that the next time that Luna was in distress and taken advantage of that there would be hell to pay. Not to mention that the strange friendship that Harry had with Professor Dumbledore was strained and no one really saw them talking to each other—it seemed as though Professor Dumbledore knew his mistake when it came to what he had done to Luna and how Harry felt as though he was about to lose another person that he loved dearly, this time freely but deeply.

Fleur Delacour was nice to Harry now—all it took was him saving her sister from the Black Lake. Luna talked to her, of course, but there wasn't really anything that was completely warm about the young woman. She was certain that there must be something that Fleur loved with a passion but she was still quiet and didn't talk completely about herself. She was very close minded and she scoffed at Luna whenever she would talk about her creatures that she could see.

Fleur was nicer to Luna whenever Harry or Hermione were in her presence as though to make nice with them. Ron never hung out with Luna. It seemed as though all his attention was focused on thinking that he had been there the whole time and supporting Harry since the very beginning of the tournament.

Luna could see the truth though—it was as obvious as the sun and the stars that were in the sky day and night. She could tell that he was insanely jealous of Harry, of what he was and who he was and how fame was given to him on a silver platter while all that Ron would be known for would being the best friend and nothing more.

Iskra had been insanely pissed off when she had woken up being clutched in the arms of her boyfriend. She had yanked herself out of his arms and hissed like a drenched cat as she swam towards where the docks were so that she could go up to Professor Dumbledore and tell him that she was going to make sure that he would fear each second of every day for rest of his life.

Headmaster Karkaroff had nervously laughed when she got out of the water and onto the dock before she spun on her heels and reached Professor Dumbledore. She was about to raise her hand when she remembered that she was in the presence of Albus Dumbledore and that she could easily get arrested and have her family legacy thrown into the fire if she had decided to slap him across the face.

She didn't say anything; instead she yanked the towel out of a teacher's hands and wrapped it around her before she stalked off. Her eyes were so vividly angered that some of the Slytherins cringed from her sight. Even they knew that it would not be smart to get in the way of the ruthless Russian.

Now everyone was waiting with bated breaths this June day, all because of the fact that it was finally the third task. Luna did not know what the third task was—nor did she want to know what the third task was. All she knew though was that she was not going to be in a room alone with Professor Dumbledore ever again.

She was sitting in the Common Room by herself, her eyes drifting around the room as conversations stirred around her. She had heard from others that Harry had basically confessed his love for her and a part of her felt whole at that knowledge but she also knew that she would truly want to hear him say that he loved her when the timing was right and as far as she knew it wasn't yet.

Mandy was sleeping in, she had a rough night where insomnia struck her and she was apparently reading all night long down here—drinking tea in order to try and get sleepy. Luna loved tea, she always had, but she also knew that unless her friends or her daddy was making the tea for her she wasn't going to accept the cup of tea for awhile—she needed time to heal.

She was wearing a plain light pink quarter length sweater, dark washed jeans, and brown leather sandals. Her hair had been scraped up in a high ponytail and she noted that others were dressed for the warm weather outside. It was supposed to be hot today, and Luna knew the Scottish heat averaged a lot less than over in America—where it would be stifling hot.

It wasn't until she was welcomed with the sound of footsteps dragging themselves down the staircase to the Common Room that she looked up and saw that Mandy was dragging herself down the stairs in her light baby blue silk robe over her plain plaid sweat pants and white t-shirt. Her somewhat longer pixie hair was ratty and there still was a little eyeliner that was smudged under her bottom waterline of her eyes.

"Geez, Brocklehurst, you look like shit," one of the upper years commented as they studied her. She merely brought her hand up and flicked them off before she plopped down on the other side of the loveseat.

"Hello Mandy, I see that you are just waking up," Luna pointed out as she looked over at some of the students that were playing Wizarding Chess. She then turned and saw that some of her housemates were reading some of the books that had been put on the bookshelves by previous Ravenclaws.

"You will not believe this when I tell you that I managed to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room last night and almost got caught by Mr. Filch _and _Professor Snape. It is insanely rich down there, I mean pure silver and marble and ridiculous gothic crap down there. I mean if Dracula liked the color green and living under a lake then that would be the spot for him," Mandy confessed as she had a look of absolute glee on her face at the fact that she had snuck into the Common Room.

"If I may ask, why did you go down there?" Luna craned her head to the side and Mandy brought her hand up and waved it, "ah, I just wanted to go down there and see what it is that makes them think that they're better than us. I didn't even have to use a disguise or anything."

Luna knew what she really meant:_ I didn't use Harry's invisibility cloak_. Mandy might be crazy sometimes and she might be spontaneous but she wasn't someone that would nick something from someone. She would ask permission to use things such as his cloak before going down there—yet she happened to go down there without feeling the need to have the cloak.

She noted in the corner of her eye that Cho was sitting with her friends and that she seemed perfectly fine—it was strange. Cho seemed perfectly fine with the fact that she had been thrown into the second task without any problem—maybe it was because she knew in the end that Cedric would come for her after she analyzed it? Iskra had become livid and would have struck Professor Dumbledore straight across the face if she knew she could get away with it.

Gabrielle was the same as Luna though.

She was a lot younger than Luna—that much was true, so it made sense that she had one of the strongest reactions. It did not help though that Luna knew that Fleur probably talked to Gabrielle and told her that there was no need to cry because she had been saved by Harry, and that if anyone should cry it should have been her. If anyone should be feeling hurt and pain it should have been Fleur for not rescuing her in time.

Luna sat on the loveseat for a few hours, her mind going on all that had happened since the second task. She thought of the tension that grew between all of the champions because they knew that only one would end up being crowned as the said champion. Harry and Cedric were on good terms though, in her opinion it didn't matter which one of them won because of the fact that they'd be winning for Hogwarts either way—as long as Harry was alive at the end of this.

When it was time for them to head down to where the third task was, Luna walked with Mandy and kept herself close to the taller and older girl. Mandy had easily slipped into the role of an older sister for Luna—almost as though she had been destined to be like an older sister to Luna.

"I hate hot weather," Mandy grumbled as she headed out of the castle with Luna. She was wearing a denim baseball cap, red t-shirt and dark washed jeans. She was also wearing trademark plain white tennis shoes that had thudded against the stone floors and pathways that surrounded and made up Hogwarts.

"You hate most weather, Mandy," Luna reminded her best friend as they made their way towards where the stands and bleachers were that had been built for the actual tournament. They stayed with the Ravenclaws since they were separating them all by Houses and schools.

As they sat down Luna saw that Percy Weasley was standing with the other judges and that he was laughing, which meant that he was trying to brown nose the judges. Madam Maxime didn't seem too interested in him—she merely brushed him off though Lodovic listened to him, only because Percy was Barty Crouch Sr.'s personal assistant.

Mandy glanced over and stuck her tongue out at him before she remarked, "Just when I thought that I was going to have a good day, you had to notice that prick." Luna rolled her eyes at the statement before she turned to look at her.

She knew that Mandy meant well—that she was joking about Percy because she didn't want Luna to be worrying. Luna wasn't worrying, well not really, since she hadn't seen Harry arrive yet.

Cho Chang sat a few bleachers down from her and Mandy, her eyes fixed forward in order for her to jump up and clap when she was greeted with her boyfriend. Luna wished that she could be like that—that her and Harry were like that. All she would have to worry about was him being a normal wizard champion that came from an average magical family, while being a normal witch.

Luna knew that whoever Harry ended up with didn't have that kind of life. People would never leave them alone—no matter what. They would make sure to have paparazzi around Harry's children so that they could take photographs and try to have interviews with the children before Harry and his wife would pull the children away—giving looks towards the paparazzi that dared the men and women to come near their children again and try to make money off them just by living.

Luna hadn't even realized that tears were starting to fall from her eyes and she brought her hand up to wipe away the tears when she felt a few of them land on her hand. She laughed quietly to herself, still surprised that she had been crying in sadness once more. She understood angry crying, but she did not cry in sadness much.

"Luna? Luna, why are you crying?" Mandy reached over and placed her hand on Luna's shoulder to get her attention and Luna merely shook her head as she wiped away the last remaining tears that she had.

"It's nothing, Mandy. Just thinking," Luna muttered as she looked down at her hands, shaking her head for a moment. She only looked up when she heard cheering and saw the champions come out and go into the center of the circle of grass in front of them—there was what seemed like an endless maze in front of them.

She watched the boy that made her feel happiness, comfort, and nothing more than completely understood stand in a line with three other teenagers. She hated this tournament and how they made a sick game out of this—she thought that they would have learnt their lessons before, that it was not smart of them to pick off where they left off as though those things never happened to begin with.

"He's strong, Lune. I know that he will make it through this. I know that you don't care if he wins or not, neither do I. I couldn't care any less about this fucking tournament but I care about you and I care about Harry and I know that I care about what will happen because I know that you would not be the same if he dies out there. So I know that he will live," Mandy whispered as she put Luna's hand both of hers and squeezed them in comfort—as though to let her know that she was here for her.

A part of Luna did not want to be here. A part of her had wanted to stay within the Common Room and dismiss what was happening outside. She didn't want to see Harry go into the third task but she also knew that she cared about him too deeply to just dismiss his final task. She needed him and she knew that he needed her there to let him know that she was going to be here for him.

She watched Harry entered the maze to find the trophy and bring it back out—he had to face monsters in there but she knew that he could just shoot them away with his wand. She knew though that she had this sickness appear in her stomach and nausea appear as though she had been trying to sleep but she knew that although she would not throw up she would still have to stick through it until it went away—through medicine or through patience.

Around her she heard nothing, there was complete silence and she knew that everyone was waiting to see who would end up coming out with the trophy. Cho Chang was sitting upright and stiff, just like Luna was.

It made her almost laugh at the fact that it felt as though she was married to Harry and Cho was married to Cedric and they had to watch their husbands go off to war and they had to sit there and see if they would return at all—they knew that this game was dangerous and that those who adored their beloveds wanted nothing more than to put their hand out and grab them by their arms and plead for them to not go.

There was no way that they could not go though. They were bound to this and there was no escape. Cedric knew that he was going to go through this—he willingly put his name into the Goblet but Harry did not put his name in that Goblet and Luna knew that he did not deserve to have this happen.

She snapped her eyes away from the maze and in the direction of where Albus Dumbledore sat with the other judges. Percy was quietly talking to the others and next to him his boss, Barty Crouch Sr. was conversing with the others. Madam Maxime was not amused though, she did not see a reason as to converse while her precious Fleur Delacour was out there risking her life.

She felt as though she did not need to hear words until they would know that Viva La France was still very alive and strong, once her Fleur won.

What none of them expected though was for Fleur and the others, except for Cedric and Harry, to come out and be confused and disoriented and wanting to kill Harry. They knew that there must have been an Imperious Charm cast on them—they could sense it and Luna shot up from her spot on the bleachers and rushed to the railing to grip the wood tightly, knowing that she would not budge from that spot until her Harry came out safe and sound.

Only what she saw was Harry come stumbling out proclaiming that Lord Voldemort was back and Cedric Diggory nothing more than a corpse—he was gone. The horrid cry from Cho shot through the air and Luna did not think twice before she jumped over the railing and rushed forward to Harry.


	46. first kiss

HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME

**46: **_first kiss_

**She stood by **him. How could she not?

She shed tears as she rushed to him—seeing that he was on the ground and that he was crying too. As much as he was hurting she was hurting too. She fell on the grass and wrapped her arms around him, feeling him rocking back and forth and trying not to let go of Cedric's body—since he felt so guilty in leading him to his death.

Luna held onto him tight, not paying attention to those that were around them. She heard the screaming from Cedric's father and she felt more hot tears roll down her cheekbones at the fact that a man was about to bury his son. A father should never bury his son—the son should bury the father.

"I'm here. I'm here," she repeated softly to him as she rocked him back and forth with her, "I believe you. I do."

She felt hands reach out to grab her and she tried to fight against the hands. She wasn't strong enough though—she felt arms tighten their grasp on her and yank her away from Harry. She saw Harry snap his head up and try to get up so that he could grab her again so that she could comfort him and know that someone automatically believed him and **_loved _**him.

Oh yes, Luna knew that she loved him now. Seeing him coming out of that maze alive let her know that she could not live with him gone. She loved him, something that she never thought that she could experience at such a young age. Was fourteen too young to fall in love? Was it wrong for her to find herself effortlessly falling in love with a boy that was ready and willing to love her just like she was ready and willing to love him? She did not know but she found herself loving him.

"Mr. Potter please calm down!" Luna snapped her head in the direction of where Barty Crouch Sr. was standing and felt irritation leaking from her. Harry just saw Lord Voldemort and Cedric die before his very eyes and this man was asking Harry to calm down as though he was acting out of proportions.

"Don't tell him to calm down, don't you see that he's just saw Voldemort kill Cedric?" Luna demanded as she felt the arms around her pull her up—she could tell in the corner of her eye that it was Professor McGonagall that was helping her up.

"Come, Luna. I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey," the Transfiguration teacher told her as she began to pull Luna further and further away from Harry. Harry was talking to Professor Dumbledore and Luna knew not what they were talking about—though she could guess that he was asking him if he could talk to him in private later so that he could know what had happened truly.

Professor McGonagall gave sharp looks at everyone that she passed by, as though to challenge them and ask the students to come and talk to her at that very moment. She had enough on her plate right now—thank you very much.

Luna reached her hand out as though she was waiting for the moment for Harry to come to her and wrap his hand around hers and know that they were here for each other. He had to know that she loved him—she had to let him know that she would stand by him one hundred percent and that she would not let others think that her Harry was a liar when it came to Voldemort.

She noted a blur of blond hair and glanced over to see that Draco was with his housemates and that he was analyzing her. She gazed at him with her soul wide open, as though to let him know that he needed to know that what Harry had just said and saw was true. He needed to know that Voldemort was back and he would come for the Malfoy family because they were faithful followers.

Draco snapped his eyes away from her and turned completely to the others around him, they were quietly conversing about the situation that they all found themselves in. They were just infants when the downfall of Voldemort happened and now they were hearing from Harry Potter that he was back, not only that but they were hearing that he had killed Cedric Diggory? It made no sense to them, after all, Cedric Diggory was a pureblood and last time they checked Voldemort wanted to keep as many purebloods as possible.

Luna was numb as she was being dragged back into the castle. Her feet stayed stuck to the ground and she was limp, Professor McGonagall was crying though it was not as strongly apparent as she wanted her tears to be. She didn't want to have _him _come back. She had wanted him _dead_!

Only when Luna was at the staircase she knew that she needed to walk so she walked up them with the older woman. Luna did not want to cry anymore—she felt as though she had cried too much lately. She had been thrown into the tournament without her permission and could have possibly been taken advantage of if Professor Dumbledore had left the room (not that he had but still), not only that but now she was hearing that the boy she loved had seen the rebirth of Voldemort.

When they reached the infirmary ward Madam Pomfrey was loaming in the doorway with the doors straight open. She ushered them in and Luna was sat down on a cot before she was looked over by medi-witch—funny how she could just wave her wand in front of her and get a general idea what was wrong with her.

"Oh dear, her heartbeat is still very rapid. We need to try and calm it." Madam Pomfrey went over to where her supply cabinet was off to the side—there were two in the room. Each one was right in the middle of each side of the infirmary; it helped having more than one sometimes.

"You don't believe him, do you?" Luna probed to her professor, her eyes scanning over the tall and stern looking woman that was cautiously sitting down at the end of the cot. Luna reached her hands up and placed them on the sides of her head, "I don't care if you believe him or not because I do. I love him and I want him to know that I will stand by his side through this."

"I don't **_want _**to believe in this, Miss Lovegood. You were barely here on Earth when he was in this world killing people because he wanted to. Anyone that got in his way, it meant nothing to him if he killed them. After all, he knew that there would be those who would follow him to the ends of the earth…" Professor McGonagall didn't have to say Draco's aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Luna knew about Bellatrix—she knew that she had a miscarriage from her and Lord Voldemort (something that her mum had told her and Luna knew her mum was no liar), and she knew that Bellatrix only married her husband because she needed to keep the blood in their family pure.

"Yes well, people do unspeakable things for the ones that they love." Madam Pomfrey reached them and frowned as she remembered seeing a child version of Bellatrix when she was nothing more than Bellatrix Black.

"I need you to drink some Sleepless Drought, my dear. It will calm your nerves and you'll wake up feeling better." Madam Pomfrey sat down next to Luna and reached her hand out so that she could push some of the messy pieces of hair that Luna had—she hadn't even known that a good bit of her hair had fallen out of her ponytail, she had been in so much hysteria that she had reached her hands up and ran her fingers through her hair when she was being pulled away from Harry.

"I need to see Harry first. Please." Luna peered up at the two women and the both of them glanced at each other—wondering if it would be the smart thing to do.

They weren't able to say anything when the infirmary doors opened and Harry came in shaken with Professor Dumbledore rapidly talking to Cornelius Fudge—who was being extremely rude to Harry and demanding to know anything and everything that had happened.

Harry spun on his heels and faced the man, "Look I already told you everything! Voldemort is back, Peter Pettigrew is still alive and now I'm connected to Voldemort because he took my blood! I watched Cedric Diggory die today and it was my fault! So leave me alone! I'm _done talking to you_!"

Luna quietly shifted in the cot and found that Fudge was livid with anger, at the fact that Harry had the audacity to say something like that in front of him. He had been nothing but professional—straight to the point and the boy had no manners whatsoever! It was an outrage!  
"I agree with Harry, it is time if you leave, Cornelius. A tragic thing has happened today and although I believe that Voldemort is back that doesn't mean that you need to let out your angry cowardice on Harry because you cannot accept the truth even if it was straight in front of you. Please, come with me back to my office and we can Floo you straight back to your office."

"You will not talk to me like that Albus!"

Professor Dumbledore straightened up and towered over the man, "you will not talk to me like that either. You are trying my patience Cornelius,_ go_!" An odd stir in the air let them know that magic was being ready to be strung and shot at someone and everyone knew that Professor Dumbledore was prepared to show how strong he was to the man that was shaking both in fear and anger.

"You will regret what you just did," Cornelius spat out before he spun on his heels and shot out of the infirmary, the doors slamming shut in a loud bang. Madam Pomfrey looked nothing more than angered—she was ready to strike that man in the face if he thought that he could come into **_her _**infirmary again and have the audacity to insult her headmaster and her children (she thought of them all as her children—she cared for them more than anyone would know).

Professor Dumbledore sighed and turned to Harry, "I am sorry, my boy for what Cornelius has done. His actions I cannot be accounted for—for he is the only one who can be accounted for his own actions. I must advise you to be quiet for now when it comes to what had happened back in that maze. You told me the truth and I know how grave the situation is now. Please rest now."

Harry quietly said goodbye to Professor Dumbledore before he went to turn around. Luna slowly got out of the cot and began to move forward to him. She had been magically changed into an infirmary gown and her bare feet touched the cold floor (Madam Pomfrey wordlessly made fuzzy socks appear on her feet. She knew not why that girl had to walk around without socks on! She'd catch the death of her.).

His eyes caught on the girl and they widened before he rushed forward to wrap his arms around her tight. She wrapped her arms around him too—knowing that she should soak in the feeling of him holding her.

She dismissed the sound of the footsteps that were heading in their direction, knowing that she needed to hold onto him as long as she could. She didn't expect though for him to pull her head away from where it was curled in the nook of his neck and shoulder. She peered up at him with love and adoration. She discovered that he was peering down at her with the same look in his eyes so she did not think twice to throw her arms around him and lunge forward to press her lips against his.

It was not like the movies or the books. There was no sparks. There was nothing like that—but she felt warmth and she felt as though she had come home. She felt as though she finally knew what her mum was talking about when she had said that every time she kissed her husband that she always knew that she felt safe and that she felt whole—ever since the first time they kissed.

She felt the tears fall down her cheekbones this time as she just kept her lips against his. She felt him tighten his arms around her and keep her as close as possible. She felt him hold her as though his life depended on it and she did not care that he held her so tightly, so protectively.

She did not know how long they held onto each other or let their lips touch. There was no grabbing hair and there was no tongue—there was just a simple long kiss that was perfect for them. There was no need for there to be such a passionately displayed kiss for others to see. She felt the passion course through her veins because she knew that she could not live without this boy, if Voldemort thought about killing the boy that she loved then he had another thing coming.

They gently pulled away and Luna could not help but smile widely and place her hands on either side of his face. He smiled back at her and she simply said, "I love you, Harry. I think I was meant to fall for you because it was so easy to do so."

Harry widened his eyes at the knowledge and chuckled before he responded, "good, because I feel the same and it would be a shame to not love a girl like you. You believe in what I say, and I know that you are another reason for me to fight to make sure that he doesn't succeed."

The clearing of a throat made them look away from each other and find that Professor McGonagall was staring at them with surprise and Madam Pomfrey was still sitting on the cot as though she thought that she had imagined the whole thing—though she soon had a warmth appear on her lips and she smiled at them as though she thought that their young love was refreshing.

"Well then, I believe that with confessions out of the way you both need to get some sleep. Poppy please, can you get the potions?" Professor McGonagall looked over at the older woman and she blinked a few times before she blushed and nodded her head—getting up so that she could go over to the medical cabinet and get another potion for Harry.

Luna and Harry made their way to the same cot and Professor McGonagall stopped them, "certainly not! I believe that you need to both have your own cot!"

She reminded Luna of those teachers that Jane Eyre had to deal with when she went to that boarding school but she did not fear the woman. She sat down on the cot and Harry turned to Professor McGonagall.

"It has been a long day, professor, please allow us this."

Professor McGonagall gave a desperate look towards Madam Pomfrey and she sighed before the medi-witch spoke, "as long as you are not touching then I see no reason as to you staying in the same cot. If what had just happened did not happen then I most certainly would not allow this to happen."

Harry and Luna both had relief appear on their faces as they lay down on the same cot and allowed their hands to be clasped together after they took their potions. They fell asleep together for the first time.

It was bittersweet.


	47. birthday letter

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**47:**_ birthday letter_

** Luna sent Harry **a birthday cake for the third time in her life—happy that she was going to be able to celebrate his fifteenth birthday. She had also sent him a butterbeer cap necklace that she had made for him too, along with an old leather jacket that belonged to her mum's cousin (apparently when her mum found out when her aunt died she had gone to the house and looked around before finding the leather jacket—she knew that she would return it when her cousin would come to the house, that was if he ever was able to come back home)—apparently he was very into grudge during the seventies and Luna knew that when Harry would find out who the jacket belonged to and who she was related to he would be shocked by who the jacket belonged to.

She had been lying in the living room with a light weight afghan blanket wrapped around her and Amite sat on the fireplace mantel—her big eyes peering down at her owner with reassurance that she would be always there for her. Though she did start to turn her head in the direction of where the cracked window was that brought a night chill into the ground floor.

Luna didn't expect for her to see Hedwig come flying into the living room through the window. Nor did she expect her to bring a letter that must have come from Harry. Luna hurriedly sat up and grabbed the letter from her—expecting her to fly off but Luna was not greeted with the owl flying away.

"Is Harry all right?" Luna probed to Hedwig and she hooted, one that was not mournful, but one that was informative and allowed her to know that Harry was all right and that she wasn't just coming here to give her a letter that stated that Harry had to be sent to St. Mungo's or anything of that sort.

She opened the letter and began to read it—not paying attention to the sound or sight of Amite flying off the mantel and sitting next to Hedwig on the coffee table.

_My Luna,_

_ I have been expelled from Hogwarts and before I know it the Ministry is going to arrive and take my wand from me—__**destroy it**__! I know that I have to leave before they arrive, I have already written letters to both Ron and Hermione. I expect you to tell Mandy and that is why I didn't write one for her._

_ I don't know where to go, but I know that I will find a place until the heat dies down and we can see about communicating again. I am certain that I will make sure that they can't take away my wand without fighting for it._

_ I'll write to you when the coast is clear._

_ Harry_

Luna blinked a few times, not believing what she had just read, before she got up from her spot on the sofa and turned to Hedwig, "I don't know what it is that Harry has gotten himself into but I know that he would not do anything that would cause himself to have his wand taken away from him and get destroyed. The only way that he could have his wand taken and destroyed would be if he did under age magic—plus doing the magic in front of a Muggle or in a place where any Muggle can see him.

"He might not like his cousin nor his aunt or uncle but he is not a monster. He must have protected them—I have a feeling that it is Dudley that he needed to help. The only thing is that there are no witches or wizards around Privet Drive that would want to hurt any of the Dursleys, even Dudley…"

Luna thought for another moment as she paced back and forth, her right pointer finger tapping against her closed lips as she wondered what it was that could make Harry perform magic in front of Muggles.

She went to sit down and was about to when she jumped up and snapped her fingers, turning to both Hedwig and Amite. "Dementors, that's the only reason why I can see Harry, protect his relatives, that or a Death Eater that never got captured that has finally decided to move in and attack them…"

She was about to Floo to the Weasleys so that she could find out what had happened (she knew that they would continue to press on when it came to Harry), only for her to hear the sound of her daddy heading down the spiral staircase. He yawned as he reached the landing and turned to his daughter.

"My daughter, why are you up? I know that you said that you wanted to—" he paused when he saw Hedwig sitting on the coffee table and as though he was seeing the grim reaper sitting there instead of Hedwig and asking if he could have some tea and biscuits, his face became pale and clammy.

"T—that's his owl, isn't it? Why is his owl here? Is he here?" Xenophilius began to move around the room and keep his hands out in front of him—as though he was about to touch Harry's invisibility cloak and he could take it off the fifteen year old boy.

Luna knew of the Deathly Hallows, she had been raised up to know the tale, and had found no reason to tell her friends about it unless she knew she needed to—though she might tell them soon.

"Yes, that's Hedwig, Daddy. His owl is here because he has been expelled from Hogwarts for protecting his family; it might be because of a Dementor or a Death Eater. No he's not here."

Luna watched as her withered daddy almost fell onto the ground in a heap from the words that she had spoken—she knew that he would have passed out if he thought that a Dementor or a Death Eater was going to come into their house with Harry.

Slowly making her way to her daddy, Luna reached her hand out and touched her daddy's cheekbone. He closed his eyes and put his hands over the top of her hand. It was almost as though he thought that if he stopped holding her hand and keeping it there she would disappear in front of his very eyes.

"Please tell me that you're not going to go after him and see if you can find him. I can't lose you too," Xenophilius pleaded as tears fell from his cheeks and dripped off his chin and jaw line. She shook her head, "no, Daddy. I'm not going after him. I know that Professor Dumbledore is not going to let this happen to Harry. He will make sure that Harry gets a Hearing and that Harry will come back to Hogwarts."

Xenophilius nodded his head after he let his hands go, and she pulled her hand away from his cheekbone. She ushered him to one of the kitchen chairs and pushed it back so that he could sit down. As he sat down his long whitish yellow hair fell in a heap around his face—it had no volume to it. It was just limp, lifeless.

"I'll make you some tea, Daddy," Luna told him as she turned and made her way over to the kitchen area to make the tea for him. She hummed as she made her tea, knowing that what she had just said was the truth.

Once she was done she went over to her daddy and sat it down in front of him before she went over to her blanket and wrapped it around her. She sat down across from her daddy and smiled when she saw that both Hedwig and Amite were conversing with each other. Maybe Hedwig hadn't left because Harry told her to stay with Luna until Luna told her to go? Or maybe Hedwig knew that things had changed and that what Luna had said would happen—Harry would end up fine.

She watched her daddy as he sipped on his tea, before her eyes drifted over to where the fields were miles and miles in front of her beyond the window. She leant her head to the side and let her cheekbone press against her palm of her hand. Around her she could see Aribta Comatti's floating all around her. She knew that they were trying to bring light into the dark bruised air around them and she appreciated them.

They were always one of her favorite creatures that she could see. She did not expect though to watch one of the creatures float down onto the table in front of her and glow bright enough that she closed her eyes and when she opened them she saw that the Aribta Comatti was actually a little faerie. Her eyes widened as the little faerie floated up and reached her before she brought her tiny hand up and touched Luna's cheek.

"Daddy, an Aribta Comatti just showed me what her true form is." Luna tore her attention from the small faerie and to her daddy. He perked up and looked at her, waiting to hear some ostentatious description of an animal that no one would even think existed (even Luna), only for her to quietly tell him what she had seen.

She slowly got up from her spot at the table and made her way outside and near the little bench that had been built and was nestled under one of the windows. She sat down and the faerie floated with her.

"Why did you show me what your true form is? I thought that you would never show me what your true form is."

The faerie smiled and responded—her voice soft and soothing. She spoke as though she was of a normal size and height, "we are very few, rare. We are used to having other creatures eating us, especially birds. We like to be in our bright orbs, they allow us to not have to eat and sleep as much as we would if we were in our true form. We have always loved you, Luna. You have always had this aura around you that is warm and inviting and others before you were mostly angry and only wanted us to show our true form because they wanted to become famous….

"We were waiting for the right time to show you our true form. Knowing that your Harry is in trouble we thought that we should come and comfort you. We could not find you during the tournament, so we knew that it was not the right time for us to do so. We can only hope that your Harry is all right and we will now allow him to see us if he is indeed all right."

Luna's eyes widened at the explanation and felt her heart tighten in warmth and happiness at the thought of something that she could see could finally be seen by Harry! She would be able to admire the Aribta Comatti with him. Maybe other creatures would hear from the Aribta Comatti that they had opened up their gifts and allowed someone who had not been born with the 'sight' like Luna did to see them.

"Thank you, I am certain that Harry is all right. He is very strong, that is what I love about him," Luna admitted and the faerie let her wings flutter a few times—as though to let her know that she liked to hear about Harry.

"When the time is right we will reveal our true selves to him, he will see us in our subdued form for now."

Luna sat there on that bench and she could not say how long it was that she had sat there. Having the Aribta Comatti floating around her in their true form made her feel better tonight. She knew that Harry was fine, he was okay, she was certain that he was going to have a fair Hearing and that Professor Dumbledore would make sure that the Ministry would look bad during the whole thing.

She hadn't even known that she was drifting off to sleep until she heard the shuffling of footsteps inside her house. She knew that it was her daddy and that he was going to come out and help her to the staircase so that she could go upstairs and flop down onto her bed before falling asleep.

As her eyes slowly began to close the door opened and footsteps became louder as the person reached her and crouched down in front of her. She gradually opened her eyes and felt her eyes widen in shock completely at the sight of Harry crouching down in front of her—he looked tired but when he gave her a gentle smile she couldn't help but lunge forward and wrap her arms around him.

"You shouldn't still be up this late, Lune," Harry whispered as he gently pulled his head away from hers and brought his hand up so that he could push pieces of her curls behind her ears.

"I was about to fall asleep," Luna told him and Harry rolled his eyes as he brought his hand out so that she could grab his hand. She took his hand and he brought her up before he began to head in the direction of where the front door was.

"The lightening bugs are pretty this morning," Harry randomly commented as a few of them floated to him. She giggled and shook her head, "oh, that's not lightening bugs that you're seeing, Harry. Those are Aribta Comatti."

Harry was the one whose eyes widened this time and he snapped his eyes down to her, seeing that she was gazing at him with complete warmth. "How can I see them?"

Luna reached her hand up and placed it on his cheek, "they saw me upset this morning, and they thought to comfort me by showing their true form to me. Then they told me that they liked how you treasured me and that they were going to allow you to see them—which I've never heard any creature ever want to do for me, they said that within time they'll show you their true form too."

Harry smiled softly down at her as he bent his head down and kissed her forehead. She tightened her arms around him and grasped him hard—as though to make sure that she could remember every little dip and curve of his chest and arms. She could hear his heart beating in his chest and she closed her eyes before she absorbed herself into the beat, another reassurance that this boy loved her.

"When is the Hearing?" Luna probed to him without bringing her head away, making him furl his eyebrows and pull her away from him for a second.

"I didn't send you a letter. I came to The Burrow with Professor Dumbledore, he came and got me. Then I used the Floo over here. It's August 12th," Harry informed her and she nodded her head.

"I know because of my Ravenclaw wit, Harry. It was either a Death Eater or a Dementor that appeared and tried to attack you and Dudley, I think." Luna found that Harry's eyes widened even more at the fact that she had known exactly what had happened without even telling her.

"Just when I think that I have a grasp of that wit and wisdom you surprise me even more than I could ever imagine. Dementors, they came out of no where," Harry quietly told her as he pulled her into the house and the door shut behind them. She locked the front door behind him and pulled them over to where the couch was before she sat down and he sat down.

He lay down and pulled her down so that she was sprawled over him. He reached blindly for her blanket and put it over them before he took off his glasses and sat them on the side table that Xenophilius had bought a few months ago.

"I'll tell you more in the morning, let's go to sleep."

Luna nodded her eyes and she fluttered her eyes closed, soaking in the feeling of her Harry, before she fell asleep.


	48. Aunt Walburga

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**48:**_ Aunt Walburga _

**Just like Luna **predicted Harry had Professor Dumbledore on his side and in the end it helped him when it came to the decision. Luna knew that Amelia Bones was going to be present during the Hearing, she happened to be the aunt of Susan Bones—who happened to be a Hufflepuff in Harry's year. There was also Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, along with Dolores Jane Umbridge—she was the Senior Undersecretary, and was apparently trademarked as an irritating woman that looked exactly like a toad and wore bright pink.

She hadn't expected though for her to be looking up from her book in the living room, humming while a cup of Gurdyroot tea sat next to her, and see Professor Lupin come through the fireplace as it shot emerald green flames. She smiled widely and sat the book off to the side, "hello, Mr. Lupin. I am happy to see you. I have wanted to see you again after you had left."

Professor Lupin smiled back at her as he studied the room around him—taking in the different assortment of animals that were around him. He knew that most of them weren't real and that he didn't have the heart to tell her that they weren't really real and that she should get rid of them. Besides he knew that Harry was very protective of Luna and would be annoyed that he had told Luna to get rid of her things.

"Hello, Luna. I know I can trust you when it comes to what I'm about to tell you." Professor Lupin made his way to Luna and sat down next to her—she sat with her back straight as a rod and she turned to him completely, "of course, I can keep a secret. The only one who I told when it came to you being a werewolf was Harry, though Mandy said that she knew first—due to Professor Snape having a lesson on werewolves."

"That does not surprise me," he grumbled as he remembered the oily black haired Git that had wanted his best friend's girlfriend. It was a good thing that Lily had known that he wasn't worth it—especially when he called her Mudblood.

Even James wouldn't have called her that.

Sure for the longest time Remus knew that James could be a Git too but in the end he tried to change and he eventually had Lily fall for him.

"Luna, Harry has gone to a safe house—Number 12, Grimmauld Place. It belongs to the Black family. Sirius had gone to the house and that is where he is currently staying. The house is being used as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix—it is a secret organization of witches and wizards who fight in order to make sure that You-Know-Who will not conquer."

"Oh, I know about it. Mum thought of joining but she consulted with Daddy and decided that it was best to not join," Luna told him and Remus blinked a few times, not knowing that Mrs. Lovegood had thought about coming and joining The Order.

"She would be welcomed," he responded and Luna nodded her head—as though to let him know that she knew that her mum would have made an excellent member and that she would have fought to make sure that Lord Voldemort would not succeed in taking over the world.

"Harry wanted you to come, along with your father if he decides he wants to come along with you." Remus waited to see what Luna would say and Luna smiled some, "oh I would love to come. Daddy is not brave though, and I know that he would not want to come with me."

Remus was quiet during this, knowing that things had been hard for him and his own parents. His dad had tried to do everything he could to make sure that Remus was all right but they could only do so much and Severus had ended up making Wolfsbane—a potion that would make Remus more alert and not result to his primal instincts (it also helped with the pain).

"How long would I be staying?" Luna craned her head to the side and Remus thought for a moment, "as long as your father says it is acceptable. We welcome you with open arms."

Luna told him to wait before she stood up and made her way up the stairs so that she could consult with her daddy. He was sitting at his desk that was near the middle of his side of the room where his bed was—reading over the latest articles that were about to be allowed within the magazine.

"Daddy, Mr. Lupin is downstairs right now and he has invited me to go and see Harry. I don't know if you remember but Mum had thought of joining The Order but decided not to. He was wondering if I could come with him to go see Harry, since that is where he is," Luna calmly told her daddy, not expecting him to jump up from his spot at the desk and storm down the spiral staircase.

She followed behind him, watching as her daddy glared at Remus Lupin as though he was coming to take Luna away forever. "I do not want to fight with you, Xenophilius. I am not taking your daughter away and she is **_not _**becoming a member of The Order. Harry misses her and wants to see her."

"I want to go, Daddy." Luna watched as her daddy turned to her, observing as she slowly made her way to him and touched his arm. "I know that Mum would allow me to go, she would join with me. If she trusted these people back when she was alive then I am certain that she would trust these people now—they have done nothing that would make Mum hate them and deny me to visit Harry."

Xenophilius peered down at his daughter, seeing the exact features as his wife. At first it was excruciating to see that his daughter looked just like his deceased wife and sadly he hated her for it the first year. He wanted nothing to do with the nine year old and had made sure to keep his distance.

A year later he attempted suicide but failed and Luna was patient but sad that her daddy would want to leave her. He knew that Pandora would become angered that he thought of leaving his daughter on the earth and so he had pushed aside the urges to commit suicide.

He took a deep breath and nodded his head, "very well, you may go. You can stay for a week though and then you must come back."

Luna beamed at her daddy and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him hard as though to let him know that she loved him even more when he thought and analyzed what he was going to say before knowing that Pandora would know what to do.

"Thank you, Daddy. I'll go pack now." Luna went up the staircase and rushed to her bedroom—ready to pack her clothes and see Harry again. She knew that they weren't necessary dating, and she knew that they only kissed once.

She had to admit that she would have been fine if he didn't want to be her boyfriend, they could be together in a way but not have labels if that made sense. It would be for the better if no one was officially told that she was indeed his girlfriend—they loved each other but knew that it was not the right time to actually be official.

As she gathered her clothes together she was greeted with Aribta Comatti that were floating around her—a few of them reporting that her daddy was sitting stiffly at the kitchen table with Remus Lupin across from him, his fingers tapping against the wooden table and waiting for his daughter.

Once she gathered all that she needed, Luna went down to the ground floor and saw that her daddy was indeed sitting at the table and clearing his throat, as though he was about to say something but decided against it. She reached them and bent down to kiss her daddy's cheek, "I will come back, Daddy. I promise you."

He smiled at her—knowing that she would not abandon him or that Harry would end up stealing her away or even worse, having her and leading her to her death. He would have never forgiven Harry and if You-Know-Who failed then Xenophilius would make sure to kill the boy for taking his Luna away from him.

"I am ready to go Mr. Lupin," Luna told him as she reached her hand out so that he could wrap his hand around hers. "You don't have to call me Mr. Lupin, Luna. You can call me Remus."

"Very well, Remus, I am ready to go."

Xenophilius watched as the werewolf and his daughter Apparated away from him, leaving him by himself.

When Luna and Remus Apparated in an alleyway she did not question him, for she knew that being in a secret organization and having headquarters meant that they had to make sure that it stayed secret.

She followed him and hummed, making Remus shake his head in amusement. He could see how Harry had fallen in love with her—she was so gentle and strong and she was creative and she stood up for what she believed in. She saw Harry as just Harry and knew that he needed someone who looked at him and saw a little bit of herself in him—and Luna knew how it felt to lose a parent.

Luna watched as Number 12, Grimmauld Place appeared as the houses next to them were pushed apart. She quietly drifted up the steps with Remus and when the front door opened she could smell the must and mildew that was soaked in the dark decorated entrance hall that she hadn't seen before.

They had gone to move forward only for them to hear the sound of someone tripping as they headed to them—it sounded like a woman, and was greeted with a curtained portrait revealed the occupant that was within the portrait.

Luna felt her heart get stuck in her chest as she slowly made her way to the portrait as the woman spewed about how there were filthy blood traitors in the house. She reached the woman and saw that the dark and imposing woman that had one of the blackest set of eyes land on her.

"You, what are you doing here! I thought that my sister drowned you in the bathtub! You disgusting vermin, you should have never been born! You disgrace my bloodline you—"

"Hello Aunt Walburga, I have been waiting to meet you," Luna quietly told her as the woman blinked a few times—not expecting to find that Luna was actually the daughter of her mother and that she was not Pandora Black.

"Do not call me that. You are no niece of mine," Aunt Walburga hissed at her but Luna noted how the woman had a weariness appear on her face—as though she did not know how to approach her.

"What did she just call you?"

Luna turned to see that most of the Weasleys were in the doorway along with a woman with spiky pink hair that had a look of shock on her face (Luna knew that this was her cousin, Nymphadora Tonks), even Harry stood a little out of the doorway as though he was about to come and hug her.

She hadn't expected for her to be welcomed with Nymphadora slowly making her way past Harry so that she could reach her cousin. When she looked down at the girl she couldn't help but smile and then hug the girl, as though she couldn't believe that she had a cousin that wasn't a psycho like her other one—Draco (yes Sirius counted because he was good but still).

"What the bloody hell just happened?"

Nymphadora pulled away from Luna but kept her close to her—both woman and girl turned to see that Ron and Hermione were standing in a doorway too and that Ron was dropping food onto the carpet.

"I guess I need to explain what happened. Is there anywhere that we can sit and I can explain?"

As she was ushered to go to the kitchen downstairs Luna turned to see that Harry was absorbing what she had said before he turned to her.

"I still love you," he finally said and Luna couldn't help but smile and lean against him, feeling him wrap his arms around her as though he was trying to shield away from the rest of the world that thought that she was a horrible person because she was related to the Black family.


	49. Black roots

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**49:**_ Black roots_

**A black root stuck to her skin—**that was what it was like for Luna. She had roots that were as black as they ever could be. She followed everyone downstairs to the kitchen and the long wooden table that was set up for quite a large amount of people. A fireplace sat on the right side of the room and an open brick oven sat on the other side of the room—where they could cook their food and easily pull it off the grill inside of it before serving it, well at least the House Elves did.

Going to the end of the right side of the table, Luna sat down and watched patiently as everyone took their seats—though upstairs they could hear grumbling that let them know that the older Weasleys were not allowed to come down, Fred and George apparently had wanted to come down and find out what had been the cause of mayhem (they were the only ones that weren't present when the portrait exploded with revealing Luna's blood line).

She also saw that Nymphadora was sitting as close as possible to her, wanting to know how she could have a cousin that she hadn't known about. She knew about Draco but how could she not know about her? She also knew about Sirius and his brother, Regulus, but she had never known about Luna.

They heard footsteps upstairs and then the door opening and quickly shutting loudly, enough that everyone flinched except for Luna. She sat still and quiet—her hands folded in front of her respectfully as she gazed forward. It was hot and stuffy down here, different assortment of foods were on the kitchen countertops along with cutting boards and knives.

She turned her head when the footsteps appeared closer and saw her second cousin, Sirius Black, rushing forward and stopping. He was breathing deeply and his black curly shoulder length hair fell forward in disarray. He was extremely handsome, with strong cheekbones and pale skin—dark eyes that were playful in their youth and a figure that was muscular and strong again.

A large amount of tattoos were on his arms and chest along with his back (she knew of this only because her mum had told her about Sirius getting the tattoos and how much his family hated him even more for ruining his skin). A good amount of facial hair was sculpted around his jaw line.

He wore a dark jacket over a forest green shirt that had four buttons at the top open and dark washed jeans, along with his signature leather boots. "Can someone tell me why Mummy Dearest is causing a storm upstairs and ranting that her baby sister survived and ending up having a child?"

Luna turned so that she faced him completely before she stood up and made her way to him. "Hello, Sirius, I am your cousin, Luna. You're actually my second cousin; my mum is Aunt Narcissa's twin."

Sirius stared down at her for a moment, as though he could not believe that she would so bluntly tell him this. "I need a drink," he managed to say after a moment and went to get something—probably alcohol.

Sitting down in her original spot, Luna turned to the group of adults that were surrounding her along with her Harry. He was absorbing what she said and reached his hand out so that he could take her hand in his. "So that's why you said that you always keep an eye out on Malfoy, and why his mum seemed as though she had seen a ghost in Hogsmeade."

Luna nodded her head as Sirius brought over some bottles of whisky and rum and many different arrays of alcohol before he sat down at one of the vacant chairs. She looked down at her hands, "Mum never told Daddy that he married a Black. I know that she has a different surname, which is quite obvious since she was rejected by her family but she was still born a Black and I will always have that blood in me."

Nymphadora waved her hand, "eh, it's not that bad, Luna. I mean my mum is related to those psychos too. You probably already know that my mum was cast aside due to the fact that she married a Muggle. So we are the products of estrangement but that doesn't mean anything because we have each other, eh?"

Luna smiled at her, "thank you, I am certain you do not seem to like being given the name Nymphadora, so what should I call you?"

Nymphadora smiled warmer at her, "you can call me, Tonks. Or you can call me Dora, if you feel like it."

"I like Dora. I let people call me Lune if they want to. It is nice having other names, isn't it? You don't feel as though you have to be stuck with one name—especially if you do not like that one name," Luna responded and Dora nodded her head—agreeing with her.

"Do you know how your mother ended up being adopted?" a black man asked her, who sat near the end of the table, Luna faintly remembered him being Kingsley Shacklebolt—he worked in the Ministry.

"Oh, my mum was undesirable, you see. My mum had cried when she had been born and they noticed that Aunt Narcissa did not cry when she was born. She stayed still and was just there, they liked that she caused no problems even when she was born. My mum had been wailing and Grandmother had decided that she should get rid of her.

"Originally she consulted with Aunt Walburga on how she should get rid of my mum. Aunt Walburga thought that my mum should be drowned in the bathtub. I am certain that this is not the first account that our family has done this—but not actually have any babies survive, so in the end my mum was sent off to a Wizarding orphanage and she was adopted a few months later."

Luna knew that her family was known for having those that hated people that were weak, even at birth it seemed as though they would toss aside a newborn if they were with more than one baby, and the one that cried the most would end up being killed or like with Pandora—end up being sent to live at an orphanage.

She knew about Phinease Nigellus and how he was the headmaster at Hogwarts, he was also in Slytherin though not a lot of people liked him due to him being in Slytherin and favoring the House of Salazar Slytherin. She knew about Araminta Meliflua and how she worked in the Ministry and had wanted them to pass a bill that would allow for Muggle-Hunting. Then there was Aunt Elladora, who happened to behead House Elves when they grew too old.

She did know most of all how much her mum wished that Uncle Alphard had adopted her, but her own mum had done an excellent job of telling the other relatives that hadn't seen the birth that Pandora had been a stillborn. Only Aunt Walburga knew the truth and even then she thought that Pandora was still dead.

"She was very happy when she found out that Uncle Alphard gave you the rest of his gold and the house. I know that Aunt Narcissa would have pushed it aside…though Aunt Bellatrix seems as though she would fix it up and continue on with the traditional Black ways."

At the mention of Bellatrix Lestrange almost everyone flinched at the memory of the actually insane woman with a mane of hair that was tangled and would probably fall out if one brushed her hair too hard—that or the brush would break (not like Aunt Bellatrix seemed like she would allow anyone near her to begin with).

"Yeah, I was actually surprised too that he gave me the money, and you're probably right…that bitch would be delighted to have her dear auntie's house," Sirius muttered as he remembered growing up with Bellatrix and how she always stole her parents' wands and tortured little creatures with them before she killed them.

"Sirius, language," Molly Weasley hissed at him, having seemed to think that saying just one vulgar word would make Sirius stop talking like a sailor. The man looked at her as though she was helpless and that there was nothing that she could do that would make him stop cussing.

"Really, Molly, that's what you're concerned about right now? My language, not that if my cousins find out about Luna that they would make sure to find her?" Sirius questioned her, making everyone flicker their eyes in the direction of Luna this time. She had gotten up from her seat and she was walking around the room—taking in everything that was around her.

"Aunt Narcissa knows about me, I am certain that if she wanted me then she would have found a way to kill Daddy so that she could have me. She is my godmother after all, though I know that Mum only gave her the privilege because we have no other family members," Luna informed them as she stopped near the open oven and glanced inside it—finding that there was not anything that was on it.

"I even met her shortly before my mum passed away. We met at a Muggle coffee shop with Draco. He was so excited to see me and he had wanted to hug me but he didn't. He knew that he had to act a certain way in public and outright hugging his estranged cousin was not the right thing to do. Mum liked Aunt Narcissa—it was almost as though Aunt Narcissa felt as though she could confess the problems that she was having with Uncle Lucius to my mum," Luna added on as she slowly turned around and looked at them—the other members of the Order were soaking in the information that they were given while Molly and Arthur thought for a moment.

"She could have gone to my mum, we could have known each other," Dora commented and Luna smiled softly at the woman before she made her way over to the table and sat down. She reached her hand out and touched the woman's hand, "my mum has her own reasons for why she named Aunt Narcissa as my godmother but I am certain that we would have been nice sisters if I was without both of my parents."

Dora smiled again and nodded her head, "yeah, I think we would have."

Sirius picked up his glass and took a long sip before he sat it down. He let his eyes wander over Luna before he smiled, "I'm happy to have another cousin, one that like Tonks said—isn't insane."

Harry was staring softly at Luna and squeezed her hand, which made her turn to look at her Harry. "That's what I love about her, that she's different but strong and wise. She's not like other girls."

"Yes, well, I should start cooking dinner. Harry, Luna, you can stay down if you want but you are free to leave. Sirius, Tonks, don't crowd around Luna when she's here. If she wants to tell you things about her mum then that's her choice," Molly finally spoke, as though she had decided that she was going to try and open up more with Luna and not judge her harshly anymore.

Luna knew that it was only because she was related to the Blacks, but it didn't bother her at all.

"I would like to go upstairs, and look around," Luna decided as she stood up and smoothed down her clothes before she headed towards where the door was. Harry stood up and followed after her—the fifteen and fourteen year old both deciding that they didn't want to stick around down here anymore.

When they reached upstairs they were greeted with an old House Elf that was wearing the traditional bed sheet. He had sour features and he reminded Luna of the Ogres from Lord of the Rings.

"Mistress says you should die. If Mistress asks me to kill you then I will be pleased to do so," the House Elf exclaimed as he had an almost gleeful look on his face at the thought of him showing his undying loyalty to Walburga Black.

"You must be Kreacher, Mum knew about you. Aunt Narcissa spoke about her when she met with my mum. You are very loyal to Aunt Walburga, I am certain that if you try to kill me you will be killed though," Luna quietly responded to the House Elf with her dreamy voice—vacant of any emotions.

Kreacher grumbled but had an almost happy look on his face at the knowledge that Narcissa had spoken about him. He had never been spoke about, he was always pushed aside and only Mistress had told him that he was worthy of her home. If she didn't think so he would have imagined that she would have banished him or kill him—but Mistress knew that he would do anything for her.

Kreacher loved Mistress.

Kreacher wandered off, muttering under his breath about plans to kill her if Mistress told him to. Luna watched him as he turned the corner, "he is very unpleasant, I know that this must be common in Pureblood families as old as mine."

Harry wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. She leant her head against his arm and they began to walk towards the different rooms—including the parlor room only for them to hear the sound of thundering footsteps going down the creaky wooden stairs.

Luna barely had time to see a blur of red wavy hair before she felt arms wrap around her and hug her. "Oh Luna, it's so great to see you! Fred and George are being pains in the arses—they're asking what it is that caused that wicked woman to start screaming. I know that you would want to be the one to tell them."

Ginny untangled her arms around her and took a step back, "I also heard about you and Harry, I'm glad for you too. I knew that you would be together."

Luna commented before Harry did, "thank you, Ginny, that is very thoughtful of you. Harry and I aren't dating, in a sense. We don't have any labels—we agreed that with You-Know-Who now back that we shouldn't say that we are boyfriend and girlfriend. We know that when he defeats him, that we can have labels."

Ginny furled her eyebrows at her, but they were greeted with the voice of Hermione heading down the stairs, "that is very clever and smart. I agree wholeheartedly with your decision."

"Thank you, Hermione. I heard that Ambrose, Dollie, and Eldora came over from America to see London. Did you have fun meeting them?" Luna probed as she craned her head to the side—finding that Hermione's face was a beet red as she nodded her head, "I did have fun, Ambrose is very intelligent—I feel like he would have been sorted into Ravenclaw. Dollie and Eldora would probably be sorted into Slytherin—which I find would not be too bad for them, because I know that they wouldn't let any of the Slytherins try to make them be bad."

Luna smiled warmer at the girl, knowing that hearing that Luna had been related to the Blacks let her know that if Luna was a little bit different—to be in Slytherin she would have proved that she would have been unique and that she could be a better Slytherin than her other family members.

"They took a picture together, it's enchanted of course but they also have a Muggle one. His mum wanted them to have one of each type," Ginny piped up, having Hermione blush even more at the little information that she gave Luna.

"I'm not rushing to be in a relationship, but I'm not opposed to being in one with him if things go well between us," Hermione admitted as she brought her hand up and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I'm happy for you, I know that Neville is enchanted by Ginny, he always sends her seeds and flowers from Hogwarts," Luna commented, making Ginny blush this time but she didn't deny it.

The only one that didn't have a love life, or a possible blossoming one, was Ron Weasley and for once Luna did not feel sad that he was missing out on one. He needed to grow and mature before he could be in one.


	50. blood quill

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**50:**_ blood quill_

** Dolores Jane Umbridge **was an irritating pest of a woman. Harry had told them how the woman had that little clearing of her throat and a sickly sweet voice—she would have fluttered her eyelashes if she thought that she looked good doing so but that wasn't her signature thing. She had been completely on board of having his wand taken away and being expelled from Hogwarts.

She sounded like a horrible woman in Luna's opinion.

So when she entered the Great Hall for the welcoming feast Luna was greeted with a woman sitting next to Professor McGonagall with a pink dress suit on and a pink bow on the side of her curly hair. She really did look like a toad and she had her hands clasped together in front of her as she looked over the students—though Professor McGonagall looked as though she would rather the woman go anywhere else, since she seemed to not be a fan of the Undersecretary.

"Ugh, she does look like a toad," Mandy suddenly commented, earning nods and agreements from the students that were around them. Luna nodded her head as she sat there and studied the woman—watching as Dolores Umbridge turned her head and noticed Luna sitting there, she had a look of knowledge in her eyes—as though she knew that Luna was sort of in a relationship with Harry but not really.

It did not surprise Luna that the woman cleared her throat and spoke immediately when Professor Dumbledore went to greet everyone. Professor McGonagall looked as though she was going to slap the woman across the face for even thinking of interrupting Professor Dumbledore.

Luna was also not surprised to hear the woman talk about how she wanted to be here to teach them correctly and that they needed changes in the school and that they were having teachers in the past that weren't listening to the Ministry. It was almost as though she was expecting them to tell her that she was going to be Headmistress and that Professor Dumbledore could basically be pushed off the highest tower that Hogwarts had to offer.

It would not be until she was having her first class that Luna knew that things were turning to as Mandy liked to say 'shit' and she knew that Mandy was probably right when it came to this professor.

If the devil was a woman and enjoyed the color pink and toads along with kittens he would have taken the form of Professor Umbridge. She was ready when they entered and commented, "hello, everyone. Please sit in alphabetical order—left to right and no talking. Do not speak while I am speaking and do not speak unless you raise your hand or you will get a warning. If you continue to be rude you will have detention."

Professor Umbridge had an almost gleeful look on her face as though she was expecting them to act out. "I normally do not make an example out of people and say their names but Harry Potter just got detention earlier for his lies against You-Know-Who and how he is—"

Luna raised her hand quietly, and Professor Umbridge gave her a tight lipped look as though she had tasted something that was sour. She still spoke though, since Luna had raised her hand.

"Yes, dear, what is it that has made you interrupt my introduction?" Professor Umbridge kept her hands clasped in front of her and she kept her back straight and looked as though she had been raised in a pureblood family—and that it had been stuck to her brain to act like a proper lady.

"I am Luna Lovegood and I was present during the tournament. I believe that Voldemort did come back—"

"You are wrong, Miss Lovegood. Harry Potter is nothing more than a rude boy and is nothing more than an inconvenience for us and Minister Fudge in the Ministry," Professor Umbridge spoke a little louder than before and she waved her hand. "Not that anyone cares about you, my dear. You will not have anyone believe you since you and your father are a bunch of loons."

Everyone froze, the Hufflepuffs that were in the classroom with her (none of them dared to speak in fear that they would have her wrath thrust upon them) looked at her as though she had started speaking in tongues or proclaiming that she was a follower of Satan himself.

"I am not a loon; do not call me a loon. If anyone is rude and an inconvenience to the Ministry—"

"YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME IN THAT MANNER! YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN TOLD THAT HARRY POTTER TELLS NOTHING MORE THAN LIES! YOU WILL HAVE DETENTION WITH ME EVERY FRIDAY UNTIL I SAY YOU CAN STOP!" Professor Umbridge screamed, making everyone stare at her now with both shock but also hatred at the fact that she had screamed at Harry's Luna—because they knew that she was going to face the wrath of Harry Potter for messing with his love.

Luna merely stood up and gathered her things, "I see no reason to be in here anymore. I am leaving; I will not have you lying to everyone."

Luna spun on her heels with her leather messenger bag and walked out of the classroom—ignoring Professor Umbridge claming that she was going to make sure that Luna was going to be suspended from her classes.

As the door shut behind her Luna couldn't help but feel hot tears wash down her cheekbones—she had never had anyone talk to her in that manner. She also didn't like how the woman had given Harry detention for proclaiming the truth.

She hadn't expected though to be heading back to her tower and hear the sound of someone calling her name. She turned her head, seeing that Draco was the one who was behind her. She stayed where she was—finding that Draco looked tired and that he was going to have death take him any moment.

He reached her and he took her hand before he dragged her to an alcove. He dropped his hand and shook his head, "you told him, didn't you? They know I'm your cousin, don't they?"

Luna knew she could not tell him about the headquarters but she nodded her head, "I told them, they will not tell anyone. I promise you that. Harry loves me too much to tell anyone, along with everyone else."

"How did they take it?"

Draco looked as though he was winging his hands together and he was expecting her to tell him that they were mad at her for even being related to him but she softly smiled at him and placed her hand against the side of his face, "they were surprised but they know that I am not like you, nor the others. I know that you are different, Draco but I like to think of when I first met you. You have done nothing to hurt me and yes I wish your beliefs are different but I love you, Draco. You'll always be loved by me."

She hadn't expected though for him to lunge forward and wrap his arms around her, tears falling from his face at the fact that she loved him and she did not look at him with disgust and hate him because he treated her love like he was dirt. She ran her fingers through his hair and hummed her mum's lullaby as he cried against her—she knew that he must have been skipping class (she expected this much from her cousin).

She stood there for who knows how long, letting him cry into her shoulder. She kept humming and rocked him side-by-side before he pulled away from her. Tear rimmed and red—his eyes were letting her know that he had just cried his heart out. She reached into her messenger bag and brought out a handkerchief so that he could blow into it and wipe away the remaining tears.

Once he was done she reached out and touched his cheekbone again. She knew how hard his life was. He wasn't raised by loving parents that were loose and free. He was raised by parents that probably loved him but cared too much about their image and parents that were strict with him.

"Remember that I love you, and that I'm always here for you. Let me know if you ever need to vent to me." Luna pulled her hand away and walked out of the alcove before she headed towards the tower.

Word spread fast in Hogwarts and before Luna knew it she was sitting in Professor McGonagall's office and Professor Flitwick was next to her. "Are you telling me that you told Professor McGonagall that she was saying that Harry Potter was a liar and that you and your father are not loons?"

Luna nodded her head, "yes, professor. I will not have anyone degrade my Harry nor am I going to have them tell me and my father that we are loons."

Professor McGonagall thought for a moment before she nodded her head, "would you like a biscuit?" She pushed the plate towards Luna and the fourth year picked one up before she began to eat it.

"_Professor Umbridge_ went to Professor Dumbledore after your class and told him what had happened. Professor Dumbledore said that he cannot do anything more than suspending you for two weeks. I think that is fair, sadly, because of the fact that you spoke out of term to that toad—I mean professor," Professor McGonagall added on, making Luna digest what she had said.

"I do not mind being suspended from her class. I know enough D.A.D.A. from other professor. May I be allowed to go and read some books from the library? I would at least be caught up when I go back." Luna nibbled on her biscuit and Professor McGonagall turned to Professor Flitwick.

"I must apologize to you Filius; I know that I am not the Head of her House. What is your opinion and verdict towards her being allowed to get textbooks from the library?" Professor McGonagall patiently waited for the verdict that the short man would tell both of them.

"I believe that you are allowed to go and use any of the D.A.D.A books. I will go and meet Madam Pince later today and tell her of your situation. Of course you cannot leave the library with them," Professor Flitwick spoke and Professor McGonagall absorbed all that he had said before she nodded her head.

"I agree completely with your verdict, Filius. Now, I must admit that you should go to the detentions with _Professor _Umbridge, at least the first two. She will probably allow you to stop your detentions when she finds out that you are suspended but if she says that you must come back then we can all sit down together with Professor Dumbledore and revisit the entire discipline agenda she has. Not only with you, Miss Lovegood, but a good agenda that she should consider with her other students," Professor McGonagall finally finished and Luna thought for a moment before it was her that was nodding her head this time.

"Of course, professor, thank you. I should get going now," Luna agreed before she got up from her chair and left the office that Professor McGonagall had for situations that happened like this one.

As soon as classes were over everyone was talking to Luna—most of them telling her that they never thought that she would talk to a professor like that, even Professor Umbridge. It wasn't until she saw the Golden Trio heading in her direction that Luna saw that amusement appeared on Ron's face at the thought of Professor Umbridge having a look of shock at being told she was wrong, while Hermione knew not if she should congratulate Luna for standing up for Harry or tell her that she didn't want her to get detention again.

Harry on the other hand jogged up to her and checked her over. He even grabbed her arms and rolled the sleeves up before he pulled them back down. "I'm quite all right, Harry. She just yelled at me. I am certain that if she thought that she could hex me that I would be able to give her more complex hexes than she knew I would be able to target someone with."

Harry allowed himself to slump his shoulders but pulled her forward and she wrapped her arms around him before she submerged herself in the hold of his arms. She could feel him lean his cheekbone against the top of her head and just hold her for a moment before he kissed the top of her head and pulled away from her—keeping them locked together by holding hands.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to your Common Room." Harry felt her lean her head against his arm and hum softly under her breath as they made their way in the opposite direction of where Ron and Hermione were going.

"I don't regret defending you, Harry. Dolores Umbridge does not deserve to be a teacher, nor does she deserve to even be anywhere near Hogwarts. I would defend you all over again if I had to. Professor McGonagall told me to eat a biscuit but I am suspended from classes—"

Luna was yanked back violently when she had gone to walk forward but he had stopped. She turned to him and saw that he had a look of hatred appear on his face at the thought of Luna being suspended from classes. "I know what you are about to say, Harry, but it was Professor Dumbledore that said that he would only have me suspended for two weeks. I am certain that if she could have her way that woman would have expelled me right then and there."

Harry sighed and shook his head, "what am I going to do with you, Luna?" He was showing nothing more than a tired amusement but it only made her love him even more that she knew that she could do things he could possibly question.

This was one thing that she knew for certain that he would have not questioned, because he knew he would have done the same thing if he was in her position and she was in his.

It would not be until Friday that Luna found herself heading into the D.A.D.A. classroom to have her detention with the horrid woman. She had left her office door open at the top of the intersecting staircase.

Luna made her way up the right side of the classroom staircase with her head tilted up and her chin pointed upwards as though to show that she was not ashamed to having been given detention from the woman for defending what had truly happened and that Voldemort really had come back.

She had barely stood in the doorway of the office before she saw Professor Umbridge sitting in a room that was completely covered with pink and white lace. There was porcelain plates hung up on the pink wallpaper that moved around and napped or played or stared at her with undying loyalty to their owner.

"Hello, Miss Lovegood. Please sit down. I have some parchment paper on the desk in front of you that I would like you to write on. I believe that you should do lines and those lines should say: _I will still my tongue_." Professor Umbridge reached into a drawer and pulled out a quill box from within the drawer.

She opened it and Luna shot up from her spot as she looked down at the dark magic that stirred within that contained box. Sitting there in that little wooden box—nestled in crimson silk was a blood quill. Luna looked up at the woman with complete anger, "did you expect me to not know what that is? It's a blood quill! I will _not _have you doing this to anyone else!"

Professor Umbridge on the other hand as though she had been told something that she had heard countless times before. "No one will believe you, my dear. Don't think that they will ever believe you."

Luna took a deep breath and knew that there must be some bravery that was in her, something that the hat had told her was going to surface. She lunged forward and grabbed the blood quill before she ran as fast as she could—behind her she could hear the screeching from Professor Umbridge yelling at her and casting spells at her.

Without even realizing it Luna was mindlessly casting off shielding charms in order to make sure that the woman couldn't grab her.

She fell forward onto the stone floor outside of the classroom—on her knees while adrenaline was still coursing through her veins. Behind her she could hear the loud clacking of the woman's pink heels. Knowing that she had to get rid of the blood quill, Luna pulled it out and put pressure on the quill—feeling the dark magic start to rise up and almost swallow her whole.

As it snapped and the shards fell onto the stone floor Luna could not help but feel warmth and happiness at the fact that she had managed to get rid of the quill without having her Harry have to go through the whole horrid experience of having some lines encrusted into his skin forever.

Behind her she heard gasping that let her know that Professor Umbridge saw the shards on the floor and the shards still embedded in her palms.

"You horrid wrench, I will make sure you will regret the day that you ever lived! I will find a way; oh I will find a way to get rid of you! I am sure of it!" Professor Umbridge screeched but they heard clearing of a throat down the hallway—making them look up and see that Professor Dumbledore was standing at the very end of the hallway.

As though she was caught red handed, Professor Umbridge straightened up completely and gave a sickly sweet look. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, I—"

Professor Dumbledore reached his hand up and showed his palm towards Luna and Professor Umbridge. "Please know that I mean no—"

"Dolores, I will not warn you again. Please be quiet. I see that one of my students is on the ground and that she's distraught. You are also harassing my student and I wish to hear what she has to say."

He bent down to her and Luna looked up at him before she rapidly began to pick up the pieces of the quill and put them into his hands. "Professor Dumbledore, I came to my detention like you asked me to do so. She had a quill for me and she pulled out a blood quill! You can check the magic signature to make sure but I am certain that it is a blood quill!"

Professor Dumbledore stood up, and Luna stood up with him as he turned his attention completely towards Professor Umbridge. "Miss Lovegood, I would suggest you go back to your tower and get some rest. I will have some words with Ms. Umbridge."

It was apparent that things were going to escalate quite quickly, since Luna saw Professor Umbridge had a look of complete fear on her face (especially since Professor Dumbledore did not call her by her teaching title). A odd chilliness settled into the corridor and a little wind ruffled their hair from an unknown force—there was even a crackle of magic that stirred in the air, as though they knew that they were in the presence of a wizard that was trying to not unleash his complete fury while an innocent witch was standing next to him.

Luna spun on her heels and booked it in the direction of where the Gryffindor Tower was, wanting nothing more than the comfort and love from her Harry. She knew that Professor Umbridge's time here at Hogwarts was going to be completely gone—or at the very least reduced to her having just a little shrivel of independence.


	51. at a standstill

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**51:**_ at a standstill_

** "SHE DID WHAT?"**

Luna did not flinch as she heard all three of her friends screech, finding that Ron and Hermione and Harry were completely angry at the thought of Luna having a blood quill be used on her. Hermione looked as though she was ready to leave the Common Room entirely and attack the witch—making sure to either kill her or hurt her so much that she would have her magic core shattered.

Though Luna knew that Ron's friendship with Hermione was barely there, he was still friends with Harry. He still tried to hang out with her and Harry and she allowed him to—only because she knew how much he meant to Harry. Though she knew that if he continued to be rude and hateful then Harry would stop being friends with Ron completely.

It would hurt at first, as would any friendship breakup, and she could agree that friendship breakups were a little worse than love breakups. These people were in your life longer than your boyfriend or girlfriend usually and you told them secrets and you laughed and hugged and spent nights watching cliché movies on the television screen and threw popcorn at each other and were there for each other in a way that was completely platonic.

"I broke the blood quill; I knew that I had to get rid of it before Harry would have his detention with her. I could not imagine what it would have been like if my Harry would be scarred from that horrid woman," Luna responded as she turned her attention to Harry. He made his way towards her and bent his head down to kiss her on the forehead—she quite liked forehead kisses, she felt like they were a little more intimate than true kisses because it held just as much love.

"I hope that she gets sent to Azkaban," Hermione exclaimed and Luna earned nods from both Harry and Ron. She did not want to imagine the woman in Azkaban but she wanted something bad to happen to the woman—something worse than what Harry could have gone through.

"You must stay here tonight; I don't want you to be gone. I am certain that Mandy will understand," Hermione declared and Luna nodded her head before she left with Harry next to her—both of their hands were clasped together as they made their way through the corridors and reached the Ravenclaw Tower.

After getting her things and telling Mandy about what had happened (she was about to head directly to the Common Room door to find the wrenched woman—but Luna had told her that Professor Dumbledore would straighten things out), and went back to bed despite almost looking as though she was going to offer to come sleep in the Gryffindor Tower with Luna.

Luna leant her head against Harry's arm as they made their way through the corridors once more—word had gotten around when it came to what had happened in detention and the portraits were asking her if she was all right. She reassured them that she was quite all right and that she did indeed break the blood quill.

Reaching the Gryffindor Tower, Luna entered with Harry—to find that a large amount of Gryffindor's were standing in the Common Room and had upset looks across their faces, letting her know that they didn't like what had just happened.

It seemed as though Gryffindor was slowly starting to accept her since she had done nothing to make Harry hate her or 'break up with her' because she had horrendously broken his heart.

"Is it true?"

"Did she really use a blood quill?"

"What are you going to do?"

They were only three of numerous questions that were suddenly asked and Luna could only stare at them with doe eyes, before Hermione interrupted them and told them to go back to bed. When none of them listened the Prefects told them to go to bed before they followed the others upstairs.

Luna headed over to the couch and sat down before she peered at the fireplace in front of her—flames flickered warmly and she sighed as she almost slumped. She couldn't believe what had just happened. She had seen a blood quill before—her mum had found one when she had gone through Aunt Walburga's house. It had been obvious that she made her sons use them when they were in trouble (or at least someone, she didn't think that there were any words that were written on Sirius's wrist).

Luna turned her head, finding that Hermione was standing near the staircase and checking to make sure that none of the other housemates were going to try and come back down here.

"I am tired, I think I'm going to bed," Luna finally spoke before she got up from her spot on the couch. She turned, noting that Harry was leaning against the other side of the couch and that he was looking into the lit fire with a troubled mind. She knew that he was wondering what he was going to do, how he was going to act—and that he was going to have to approach Professor Dumbledore in a way to make sure that he would find out exactly what had happened.

"Goodnight, my Harry. I love you." Luna reached him and placed a kiss on his cheek before she felt him wrap his arms around her and hold her close. She absorbed herself into the feeling of his arms around her and allowed him to hold onto her as long as he wanted before he pulled away from her.

"Goodnight, Luna. I love you too. I'm always here for you," Harry reminded her and she nodded her head before she untangled his arms around her and went upstairs with Hermione.

When they entered the fifth year's dorm all of the girls looked as though they wanted to ask her what had really happened but one scorching look from Hermione reassured them all that it was best if they didn't try to talk about Professor Umbridge and what had happened with the blood quill.

Slipping in on the other side of the bed with Hermione once she had her pajamas on, Luna fell asleep and clung to the knowledge that she had so many people that loved her and would stand up for her. Even the Gryffindor's looked as though they were finally going to stand up for her and tell others that they weren't going to let what had happened to her ever happen again.

It would not be until she woke up, washed her face and her teeth and changed into a plain bright pink sweater, rainbow polka dotted jeans, and black and white converses, that Luna would be greeted with Hermione leading her down to the Common Room so that she could see Harry.

She hadn't expected though to be greeted with the Weasley twins reaching her and hugging her, claiming that they were going to make sure to have Umbridge pay for what she had done to their little sister.

Once she was let go she reached Harry and he wrapped his arms around her before they headed down the stairs and in the direction of where the Great Hall was. They didn't know what they were going to see, but they knew that Professor Dumbledore was going to confront this incident immediately so that no one would spread any false rumors about what had happened.

When the Great Hall doors opened Harry and Luna were indeed welcomed with the sight of Professor Dumbledore standing near the podium that was pulled out during speeches that he had for the whole school. Professor McGonagall looked just like she was expected to look—ready and prepared to defend her students against anyone who would try to talk and speak words that were of vile intent.

As soon as all the students were rounded up and sat down (except for the students that were in the infirmary), Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and spoke, "Hello, I know that you have all heard rumors about what had happened with a student in this school and Professor Umbridge.

"I am here to put those rumors to rest and tell you that they are true. Professor Umbridge had a blood quill—for those who do not know what a blood quill is it is a dark magic quill that when someone writes with it has the message written into their arms because the blood quill does take your blood instead of normal ink. She intended to use the blood quill as a sign of punishment for the students that she had given detention to. This student was wise to grab the quill and destroy it before the woman could take it back.

"Professor Umbridge has been stripped from her role as a professor at Hogwarts while the Ministry is investigating the case. I urge you to leave the student that destroyed the blood quill alone because they have experienced something that is evil and does not even deserve to exist.

"I will be teaching the Defense against the Dark Arts classes until we can find a new teacher. It will be a while but I assure you that we will find a more suitable teacher that will teach you all that you need to know. That is all."

Professor Dumbledore spun on his heels and walked back to the faculty table to sit down and pick up the bell that was in front of his empty plate. He rang it and food appeared in front of them all—ready to be consumed by the students and by the professors.

Luna grabbed a few pieces of food and began to eat, not really in the mood to eat since she was not very hungry to begin with. She turned her head and saw that her Harry was telling those around them to not worry and that she was doing all right. He glanced over at her and gave her soft, loving look that made her feel reassured that everything was going to be all right.

Luna glanced back at the Ravenclaws that were sitting at the long oak table and were conversing with each other freely. She hadn't expected though to have so many of them ask her if she was indeed all right. Even Terry Boot—one of the most opinionated boys that should probably keep his mouth shut asked her if she was all right, it was quite surprising but she reassured them that she was all right.

"She would have used it on my Harry, and other innocent students that stood up for what they thought were right. I would do it all over again if I was presented with something like that," Luna told them before she took a long sip of her Pumpkin Juice and glanced over at Harry one more time.

She finished her food earlier than others and stood up from her spot at the table before she headed out of the Great Hall. She soon discovered an alcove and sat down in a ball before she felt tears cascade down her cheekbones. She quietly sobbed at the thought of having those scars on her wrists—having that horrid woman forcing her to have a permanent beacon on her wrists that said that she should be normal. What was wrong with her being different?

Of course it didn't take long for Harry to find her. He could always tell where she was. It was almost as though it was a sixth sense that he had developed. He sat down and held out his arms so that she could fall into his arms. She leant her head against his left shoulder and continued crying. She hated crying, she knew that it was a sign of strength that one could let others know that they were human and that they should not be ashamed of it but she still hated crying.

"I want Dora or Sirius. I want a family member that cares about me, that would have put her in her place or would have made sure that she would have her magic core shattered. I am not dumb though, I know that if given the opportunity then Sirius would make sure to kill that woman."

He shushed her as he continued to rock her back and forth, as though to once again let her know that he was there for her. He would make sure that nothing like that would ever happen again. She did not know how. How he could make sure that nothing like that ever happened again?

Horrible things happened to innocent people all the time. No matter how hard they tried to prevent them from happening they would still happen. It was a part of being human and it was a part of being alive.

"I love you so much, Harry. Don't ever leave me," she cried and he brought her head up with his fingers against her chin—making her eyes look directly at him. "I promise that I will never leave you, Luna Lovegood. You will always have me, I promise you that."

A surge of warmth washed over the light blonde haired girl before she lunged forward and pressed her lips against his. She allowed him to feel all the warmth and all the love that she had for him and it did not take long for him to respond. It was messy, it was not beautiful, this was their second kiss ever with anyone and their teeth hit each other and her tears dripped down from her lips.

She pulled away from him when they needed breath and wiped away her spit and tears from her mouth. Harry wiped away his own tears and spit from his mouth before he stood up and held her hand like the gentleman that he was. Luna grabbed his hand and felt him pull her up.

Neither of them expected though to be walking down the corridor to the Owelry to see the sight of Hermione rushing towards them with heaving breath. She stopped in front of them and heaved once more before she brought her head up, "Remus is outside the gates. He wants you to know that Sirius is going to come out of Grimmauld and that he is going to meet with you Luna.

"He's very pissed, but he wants to comfort you. Tonks wanted to come but they won't let her. They know that Sirius will find a way out of the house one way or another, and I am certain that Tonks will too. They want to meet tonight, at midnight, in Hogsmeade," Hermione rapidly told them.

"I'm not going, but I beg for you two to be safe and aware of your surroundings. I know that you need this Luna, so please be careful."

Luna nodded her head before she hugged Hermione, "thank you, I will be. Harry will protect me anyway, I can assure you that. So will Sirius."

Hermione clung to her for a moment longer before letting her go. She never thought that anything like this would happen, but she knew that what Luna said was right. She was going to be careful and Harry would make sure that nothing would ever happen to the girl he loved.

She hoped that Sirius and Tonks were not going to try to find a way into Hogwarts and demand to see Umbridge get a Dementor's Kiss. It would ruin everything for the Order, and that was the last thing that they needed.


	52. midnight meeting

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**52:**_ midnight meeting_

** They **met at midnight in front of the statue of the one eyed witch that Harry had used years before to go to Hogsmeade—it went directly into Honeyduke candies but Luna and Harry knew that Dora or Sirius would have one of the windows cracked so that they could slip through and find them in one of the alleyways that were around the small town that thrived with money from Hogwarts students.

The invisibility cloak was over the couple as they went through the tunnel and kept their hands together—making sure that there would be no possible way that they could be separated from each other. They soon entered the cellar of the candy shop before they headed up the stairs and to the actual shop. They made their way throughout the store and found the window that was cracked a little bit open.

Reaching the window Harry pulled it open further and the both of them slipped through the window before they landed with a thud onto the ground. The invisibility cloak rustled and almost came off of them but Harry quickly fixed their cloak as they heard the sound of footsteps heading down the staircase that led up to the flat that was above the shop.

They listened intently as the shop owner, the husband, came downstairs and checked around—saying that he thought that the window had been closed but after checking and making sure that all of his candies were still in their original spots and none of them had been taken he went over to the window and shut it before magically charming it to not open until he charmed it to open with his own wand.

Harry got up from the spot that they had fallen to and the both of them walked throughout the different areas of Hogsmeade—wondering where they would see the faces of Luna's cousins. Harry wordlessly headed towards where the Screeching Shack was, because that had been where Remus transformed into his beastly form once a month to keep himself away from the students.

The shack was barely in their view when they heard the sound of paw prints hitting against the snow in thuds. A large black dog bounded towards them and jumped on them when Harry took off the invisibility cloak. Luna giggled as her cousin licked her on the face, as though to let him know that he was happy that she had turned out all right and that Umbridge hadn't had her scarred.

Dora appeared as she came out of the Shrieking Shack, happiness bubbling upon her face as she rushed down. Luna watched enraptured at the sight of her cousin rushing towards her and her hair turning all shades of colors. She knew that her cousin could change her appearance—she was after all a Metamorphamagus.

Reaching them she frowned at Sirius and tried to push him away, "come on, Sirius. Let me see her." Sirius jumped off of her and Dora wrapped her arms around her before she pulled away and grabbed her sleeves of her shirt so that she could see her wrists. She sighed in relief.

"I wanted to murder that bitch when I heard what she had planned to do with you. I am so proud of you, Luna, that you had destroyed that thing," she told her and Luna smiled wider as she hugged her back.

"I could not allow my Harry or others experience what she had planned for us. I knew that I had to destroy it. The sorting hat almost put me in Gryffindor—he said that I had bravery. I am certain that my bravery came out then."

"I think that we need to go into the Shrieking Shack, just to make sure that we won't be seen," Harry suddenly commented and all four of them headed towards the Shrieking Shack before they entered and Harry shut the door behind him. Luna turned and found that Sirius had already changed back into his human form.

"I am proud of you, Luna. I am certain that your mother would be proud of you too," Sirius finally said and Luna gave him a small smile, "I think so too."

They headed over to the couch that was in the Shrieking House. Shortly after Remus had left they came to the house and fixed it up and put furniture into the house but just basic things. It was obvious that if they needed a hide out that they would chose this place but so far no one used it.

Luna told them all about what had happened throughout the weeks that she had been at school and so did Harry. When asked if they were dating Luna blushed but softly told them, "Harry and I aren't dating; in a sense, we don't feel the need to have labels. Harry knows that I am his and he is mine and that is what we really care about. We love each other and with the resurface of You-Know-Who it is wise to not outright tell everyone that he is my boyfriend or that we are dating."

"That does sound smart, good thinking," Dora finally commented and Luna gave her a warm smile as she leant her head against Harry's arm.

Outside they could hear the whistling wind and they glanced towards the windows that were in the front of the house. Thankfully they had thick curtains that they had put up so that no one could step up to the porch and loam outside of the window to see that Sirius Black was sitting in the sitting room with Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood along with Auror, Nymphadora Tonks.

Luna sat there and allowed Dora to tell her different things that were happening, things that didn't necessary have to do with The Order. They were simple things, such as stories about her childhood and how she made herself look like the neighbor kids so that her parents would think that she was someone else when she was in trouble.

Then Luna told them stories about when she was little and how her daddy had swallowed up all the stories of her creatures with eagerness but he was too naïve in her opinion. She owned up to the fact that not every creature she had yet to come across but thought she knew existed did not exist.

"I would not be surprised if some of my beloved creatures told me stories about other creatures that do not exist. They might not all love me, I might be an inconvenience in their eyes because I should not see them at all. I tell my daddy about these creatures that might not exist and he goes and finds different assortment of pieces that he thinks belong to the animals. I have allowed him to have some of them in the house but I love my daddy too dearly to tell him that he should not embrace my world so fully," Luna softly told them as she looked off towards where the staircase was that led to the second floor of the house.

She looked back at Sirius and Dora, seeing that they were pondering what she had said. "Was your mum the same way?" Sirius probed to her and Luna shook her head, "oh no, Mum knew that some of the things that Daddy brought home were incredibly made up even in my eyes and made him take them back."

"Well—"

Sirius paused, as they heard the sound of footsteps echoing outside. Harry scooted closer to Luna and grabbed at his invisibility cloak only for them to hear the heavy footsteps heading towards the actual door to the Shrieking Shack.

They could hear the sound of a wand opening the locked door and there standing in the doorway was Albus Dumbledore himself. He peered in on the four people and brought his hand up to rub his fingers through his thick locks of gray hair. His eyes flickered over Sirius and Dora, giving them nods as though to acknowledge them, before his eyes landed on Luna and Harry.

"Good evening, Sirius and Tonks, I am pleased that you wanted to see if your cousin was all right. I know though that you coming to Hogsmeade to come and see her in the middle of the night might not be as fool proof as you think it could be. There are those out in Hogsmeade that I am certain will turn you into the Ministry and we shouldn't have that happen. I must ask you to leave and go back to where you came from and as for Miss Lovegood and Mr. Potter; I will walk back up to the gates with you. Harry, please put the cloak over you and Luna, and I will explain to you how I know of its existence soon enough."

Luna and Harry got up from their spot at the couch that they had sat down on and quietly said their goodbyes to Sirius and Tonks before they threw the invisibility cloak over them and walked out of the Shrieking Shack with Professor Dumbledore.

"I wanted to tell you, Miss Lovegood, that your aunt had sent a letter to me—demanding that I allow her to come and talk to you. I never thought that Narcissa would come and actually want to be a part of your family now; she must know the dangers of revealing that you are her niece. I will have no problem with ushering her off to the side, my dear. What do you think I should do?"

Luna could feel the eyes of both her headmaster and her Harry on her but she thought for a moment as they headed up to the gates. Professor Dumbledore was looking forward but she knew that he was still watching her in the corner of his eye and it was enough that she finally decided what to do.

"I will meet with Aunt Narcissa. This will be the only time that I will be in contact with her, that is what I think should happen. I know that Aunt Narcissa has been raised to listen to her husband and to keep her blood purity beliefs thriving even in this century, I will listen to what she has to say before we go our different ways. Possibly if things change for the better I might consider seeing her again," Luna finally decided and she felt Harry's hand tighten on her arm.

Professor Dumbledore thought for a moment, as he digested what she had said before he sighed and nodded his head, "very well, my dear. I will schedule her to come to my office in two days. I feel that it would be best for you to keep this information between you and Harry. If I have a feeling that we should not proceed with having the meeting then you must respect my decision to deny her to come."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore, I respect your decision to deny her entry into the school. I will not have my aunt harm anyone just by coming into your office and finding a way to hurt someone," Luna confirmed and Professor Dumbledore nodded his head, pleased with what she had agreed to.

Luna did what Professor Dumbledore had asked her to do. She had kept what had gone on in the Shrieking Shack to herself along with Harry keeping what went on in there to his own self too. Hermione had been a deep sleeper and hadn't even known how long Harry had actually been gone and Ron was sleeping harder than he normally did—he always slept harder whenever he got into another argument with someone in their House and he was the only one that didn't know about the meeting.

Now though, Luna stood outside of Professor Dumbledore's office with her hands folded in front of her. She wore crisp black school robes with her Ravenclaw tie smooth and centered. She decided not to wear her earrings but she did put some protection stones in the deep pockets of her robes.

Raising her hand, Luna knocked on the door in four loud and separate taps for Professor Dumbledore to know that it was her that was on the other side. As she heard him usher her in Luna walked through and the door closed behind her in a hushed click.

She paid no mind to Fawkes—Professor Dumbledore's signature phoenix that always sat on its stand that was next to the large and loaming desk. She paid no mind to the whirling and whizzing of the different golden instruments that spun around the room.

She did pay attention to the woman that was standing near the fireplace—her hands clutched on the designer purse that was in front of her beautiful emerald green robes. She even had her blonde curls cascading around her instead of tied up in a tight bun that would almost look as though she pinched her skin backwards—something that Luna never thought she would see from the woman.

"Hello Aunt Narcissa," Luna greeted the woman and Aunt Narcissa sighed in relief at the fact that Luna did not look as though she wanted to hex the woman into oblivion. She had a look of longing on her face though, as though she wanted to sit the purse down and hug Luna and tell her that she was sorry for her—Luna knew that wouldn't matter in the end though.

"Luna, I am so happy to see that you are all right. I can't believe that horrid wrench thought to torture my own niece! I would have—" Aunt Narcissa paused as she heard the quiet clearing of the throat from Professor Dumbledore that let the woman know that she should tread lightly when she was around him.

"I am all right, Aunt Narcissa. I would not allow Umbridge the possibility to even torture me nor my Harry or anyone else unjustly. Even the Slytherins do not deserve to be marked in such a manner," Luna softly told her, earning a look of surprise from Aunt Narcissa at the fact that Luna did mention her aunt's House.

"Even the Slytherins, did I hear that correctly, Luna?" Aunt Narcissa reached blindly for a chair and turned it so that she was facing Luna and not Professor Dumbledore. She sat down and smoothed down her robes before she sat her purse down straight in the middle of her lap.

"Of course, Aunt Narcissa, even the Slytherins. No one deserves to have a Blood Quill used on them as a form of punishment. I am certain that Umbridge will have what is coming for her—in due time, of course. You cannot do evil things and expect there to not be consequences for doing such actions." Luna glanced over at Professor Dumbledore and focused her whole attention on him.

"Professor Dumbledore, why isn't Draco here? Wouldn't he like to see his mum or me? It has been a while since I have seen my cousin," Luna questioned him and made Aunt Narcissa straighten up even more at the fact that her niece had asked about Draco and that she would accept him being here.

Professor Dumbledore on the other hand looked as though he was clicking his tongue and that the twinkle that was playful always in his eyes was gone. "I do not think that having Mr. Malfoy here would help you concentrate when it comes to your visit with your aunt, Miss Lovegood. Before long he will see her again, during the Holidays," Professor Dumbledore explained and Luna tucked that information into the back of her mind to be thought over if needed be.

Making her way over to the other chair, Luna moved it so that she was facing directly towards her aunt and not Professor Dumbledore before she thought for a moment and then reached her hand out. She let her fingers brush against the top of her aunt's hand and could tell that the shade and softness of her aunt's hand was almost exactly the same as her mum's hand.

"Tell me stories, happy stories, of Draco growing up," Luna finally commented and Aunt Narcissa smiled warmly at the girl before she reached her other hand up to place on Luna's—which was overlapping her right hand.

"I would love to."


	53. High Inquisitor

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**53:**_ High Inquisitor _

** Even **though Luna still had mixed feelings when it came to Professor Dumbledore she had to admit that he was an excellent Defense against the Dark Arts professor and that she learnt as much as she could from him. She would always wish to be taught by Remus again though, she had adored the handsome scarred man that had a kind heart that went out towards Harry and wanted nothing more than the best for Harry.

She had entered the classroom and sat down in a random seat (Professor Dumbledore cared not who was sat next to who as long as there wouldn't be distractions in the classroom), only to find that Professor Dumbledore was standing at the front of the desk and that he had his hand up and tapping against his chin as though he was wondering how he could address what he was going to say.

It would not be until every student had entered the classroom and sat down that Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked over his students. "Hello, children, I have some news that I need to tell you before we start our lesson this morning. First of all, this is my last class that I will be teaching you."

Luna noted in the corner of her eye that some of the Hufflepuffs looked sad at the thought of him leaving them and even some of the Ravenclaws clicked their tongues as they thought over who it would be that would take the position now. Professor Dumbledore caught her eye for a moment and he let her know that what she was about to hear would not be what she wanted to hear.

"The Ministry has decided that I shall not continue being your substitute teacher for Defense against the Dark Arts, and that I am not going to choose who the new professor is going to be. They decided to side with Dolores Umbridge and claim that what a student had claimed had happened was not true and that the student was merely trying to gain attention."

Luna felt as though she had swallowed something vile and that before long she would wither on the ground and that she would find out that she had been poisoned. She thought that Professor Dumbledore would fix this; after all he had done incredible things with helping Harry in the past but for her? No, no one seemed to care about Luna Lovegood and since she was not Harry Potter they could just push her away and not even listen to what people said in the Wizarding community because truth that was told was that no one cared about Luna Lovegood in the Wizarding community.

Luna saw everyone stiffen and some of them cried out that this wasn't fair and that she needed to be sent to Azkaban. Others were saying how much of a joke the Ministry was and that they would let a serial killer into the school and teach as long as they were on their side and kept certain things hush, hush.

"I have been told that I will be suspended for the rest of the school semester, they will decide what to do with me after Christmas Break. Dolores Umbridge will be allowed to come back and be a professor again. Not only that but she has been given the title of High Inquisitor.

"A High Inquisitor is a teacher that has been appointed by the Ministry of Magic to make sure that unsatisfactory teachers will be fired and that the school will follow what the Ministry will ask the school to do," Professor Dumbledore carefully told them this and everyone stiffened even more.

"Who is going to be the new headmaster though?" one of the Hufflepuffs asked and Professor Dumbledore responded, "Professor McGonagall will be mostly in charge of things that I have been in charge with, but will have to talk to Professor Umbridge to make sure that they follow with the code that the Ministry has asked us to follow as whole."

Luna tuned out Professor Dumbledore as he quietly changed the subject, and wondered why he was telling them this in the classroom instead of in the beginning of the school day, at breakfast. Maybe he knew that it would be better if he answered the questions that students would want to know and tell them kindly, without having to show that he had to act insanely formal during this whole process.

Her class was the first class of the day and he must have known that gossip would get around and before he would even have his afternoon classes everyone in the school would know that he was suspended and that Professor McGonagall would look over the school for him along with Dolores Umbridge coming back into the school and being not only a teacher for the school but also this made up name that the Ministry had given to her so that she could rule over everyone at the school in a way.

Making her own self pay attention was hard for Luna but she made herself pay attention nonetheless. She knew that she was usually good at paying attention and that the creatures knew to be dismissed when she was in class—the few that tried to persist would be shooed away but right now Luna wanted her Aribta Comatti to be around her so that she could ask them to sneak around and find out more information so that she could learn what was going on.

Before long class ended and Luna gathered her messenger bag before getting up from her spot at the table, and as she heard those around her telling her that they believed her she couldn't help but feel warmth wash through her at the fact that the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws in her own year seemed to believe her. The majority of the Gryffindor's probably believed her, but there would be some that wouldn't just out of jealously and judgment.

The Slytherins would know that she was telling the truth but they would just snicker and say that they were happy that Dolores Umbridge would be back. Most of their parents were brownnoses when it came to the Ministry, had to be because they had at least one or two family members that were Death Eaters.

Leaving the classroom, Luna headed forward and dismissed those around her—her socks being enchanted to change to a different array of colors. They were almost blinding but she hadn't been told that she needed to change her socks; she was allowed to wear what socks she wanted. It seemed as though the faculty liked her more because of the fact that she had destroyed a blood quill and got Dolores Umbridge in trouble.

As Luna went through her next classes she was welcomed with all of her teachers saying that what Professor Dumbledore said was true and that the Ministry had final call when it came to what would happen with Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall looked as though she was going to have an aneurysm when she spoke about 'Professor Umbridge' but from the tone in her voice it was apparent that she was going to make sure the professor would have a hellish time here at Hogwarts in the most polite and formal way as possible.

None of her friends or Harry had reached her yet when she was heading to the Great Hall for lunch so it didn't surprise Luna when she saw a pale hand reach out and grab her by the arm and yank her into an abandoned classroom.

Draco stood in front of her with dark circles under his eyes and paler skin than normal. There was a deep bruise on the side of his face and Luna gasped quietly as she reached forward and went to touch his cheekbone. He brought his hand out and placed it on top of her stretched out hand, "no, Luna. He was angry, he's always angry but he was angrier than usual."

"He shouldn't hit you, Draco. You don't deserve to be punished for that. You've done nothing wrong in my opinion to have to be abused. No one should be abused," Luna responded as she brought her hand out and reached his cheekbone. She barely brushed her fingertips on his cheekbone when he hissed and flinched away from her—letting her know that it was still sensitive.

"Father found out, Mother tried to keep Father from finding out about her meeting with you but he got mad. He went to slap Mother but I got in the way and he slapped me instead. He's been drinking worse; ever since the Dark Lord came back my father is afraid that he will be pushed aside so he lashes out on me. You being in contact with Mother and me made him madder than normal," Draco confessed to her and Luna shook her head as she reached out and wrapped her arms around him. She rocked him side-to-side as she hummed her mum's lullaby under her breath.

"If you ever want to leave with Aunt Narcissa know that I will make sure that nothing will happen to you. We can find a place for you to hide in and I can be the Secret Keeper, I would never let them find out about you and Aunt Narcissa," Luna told her and Draco pulled away from her abruptly, as though he had been electrocuted while standing in a bucket of water.

"No, Luna. You can't do that. I wouldn't allow you to be the Secret Keeper; if anyone in our family deserves to live it should be you. Mother and I need to pay for our own sins and you do not have as bad of sins as we do," Draco admitted and Luna frowned as she shook her head this time.

"No, Draco. You don't understand, I love you and I love Aunt Narcissa. You don't need to go through this abuse! You don't deserve to go through this abuse! You still have time to come and be away from him. Away from Voldemort! Please, think about it. My offer will still stand, come to me before it is too late," Luna pleaded as she reached her hands out and placed them on the sides of his face.

Tears fell down Draco's cheekbones as he quivered and fell onto the ground, crying loudly at the fact that he never had someone love him so strongly like his mother loved him. He had been raised to be cold as ice and just as hard as ice too. He was to be the perfect pureblood wizard that he should be and now he had this pureblood cousin prove to him that he didn't have to be like that.

Luna sat down on the ground and allowed Draco to wrap his arms around her and cry. She ran her fingers through his hair and locked the classroom door with her wand to make sure that no one could come into the classroom. At least no one would automatically come in—they'd have to use their wand to come in.

Luna didn't know how long she sat there as she held her cousin in her arms, wanting to shield him away from his father and wanting nothing more than to take Draco and her aunt to Number 12, Grimmauld place.

When Draco was done crying and holding onto Luna he got up from the ground and Luna followed right after him. She leant forward and kissed his cheek before she departed from him and headed in the direction of where her next class was—finding that she had spent all of lunch with Draco and although she would have liked to sit with Mandy and talk to her (she hadn't had time to talk to Mandy in a while, she hoped that she wasn't too upset with her), she still wanted to be there for Draco in the times that he really needed her.

It would not be until it was dinner time and she was sitting with Mandy, listening to the girl telling her countless things that had happened during the day. The fifth year had more things to talk about than the fourth year. Luna knew that everyone knew about Professor Umbridge being allowed to be a teacher again and was now a High Inquisitor—students were sending off letters to their family members that worked in the Ministry to ask if there really was a High Inquisitor.

None of them expected though for the Great Hall doors to slam open on their own and Professor Umbridge come through the open doorway with her head tilted upright. She had her hands folded together behind her back and her beady eyes flickered over all the students around her. She wore a more expensive outfit than her last one—and she had a silk bow in the head of her hair than a normal one.

Professor McGonagall looked as though she was bending her fork backwards and that before long it would snap into two while Professor Sprout was acting as though she was eating her food but she kept missing her mouth when she would glance over at Professor McGonagall—as though the short and squat woman was waiting for the moment that Professor McGonagall would decide to duel with Dolores Umbridge.

Professor Umbridge let her eyes land on Luna for a second but instead of having irritation in her eyes and her lips turned down she just held a smirk that allowed Luna to know that it would have to take a whole lot more harder things to get her away from this school than breaking her blood quill.

Reaching the faculty stage, Professor Umbridge walked up the right side of the stairs and made her way in the direction of where the pedestal was. "Hello, children, I know that you all have missed me. Do not worry though, I am back and I am prepared to teach you more of the Ministry approved Defense against the Dark Arts study guides that I have written for you all.

"If none of you knew, I was given the position of High Inquisitor by our lovely Minister, Cornelius Fudge. That means that I come into your other teachers' classrooms and evaluate them and see if they are doing what they are supposed to be doing in the eyes of the Ministry. I also am allowed to fire those who I think do not follow the guide of teaching the Ministry has for them.

"I will also make sure that the school as a whole is doing what the Ministry has asked for it as a whole to do. We have had too many situations happen in the past that could have easily been avoided but we chose not to listen to the Ministry and many children and teachers have been hurt because of the carelessness that your faculty has of running this school. As I said before, I am here now, so do not worry anymore. You may continue eating, that is all."

Professor Umbridge hopped off the stool that she had transfigured and made her way to the seat that was next to Professor McGonagall. Shooting each other narrow hooded expressions the two witches gathered their food and began to eat.

"Ding, dong, the bitch is back."

Luna did not laugh as some of the other Ravenclaws did at the comment that Mandy randomly made, instead she was studying the faculty table—knowing that the rest of the school year was going to drag on and on and something bad was going to happen before they even made it to Christmas with Professor Umbridge here.


	54. education decree number 24

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**54:**_ education decree number 24_

**No one **really knew what to expect from the monstrosity that was Dolores Umbridge but waking to the sound of the framed decrees being nailed into the stone walls was enough to cause everyone to twitch their eyes at the fact that they were having to wake up to the horrid noises.

It was even worse when Luna went down stairs into the Common Room and found Cho Chang standing near the decree and that she had a livid look on her face. Everyone almost took a step back, knowing that the last thing that they needed was to be around the Chinese girl.

Quidditch was one of the only few things that Cho still did when it came to things that she and Cedric liked to do when he was alive—it was apparent that Dolores Umbridge was going to be in a rude awakening when she would be faced with backlash from the students.

Luna reached the Chinese girl and read the actual decree—finding it written in a sickly sweet cursive font:**_ Education decree number 42: no student organization, society, team, group, or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor_**.

Below it held her signature and a little sketch of the badge that she always wore proudly on the left side of her chest—ready to show that she had an authority that they could not just push aside unless they really wanted the Ministry involved.

Luna had barely moved away from the decree plaque when she heard the sound of someone spitting out the answer to the riddle. In seconds Luna was welcomed with Harry, Hermione, and Ron entering the Ravenclaw Common Room. Hermione looked bewildered, Ron looked as though he thought that this was a joke because if it wasn't he was going to scream his head off—that and if he heard one thing that sounded ludicrous he was going to lash out, and Harry looked as though he wanted to slap Professor Umbridge across the face.

"That wrench! How dare she think that she can control us like this!" Hermione spat out as she threw her arms up in the air and grumbled before she paced back and forth, while everyone was silent around them. They knew since Hermione had slapped Draco Malfoy that they shouldn't degrade her as much as they used to unless they wanted the same treatment as him.

"This is why I do not like the Ministry; there are horrible things that are happening within those very walls. Mr. Waterborne has people he knows from the Ministry and they are—"

"No one cares about your bloody opinion or your father's or Mr. Waterborne's!"

It didn't surprise anyone when it came to Ron that spat this; he had become very temperamental lately and lashed out at the littlest things. "I can usually go along with you and your little tales because they're amusing and all that but this is serious, Luna. Shut your mouth unless you have something that really matters at the moment!"

Silence echoed for a second but to everyone it felt as though it wasn't even a second. The silence came and the silence went.

The next thing that Luna could see was Harry stalking forward and punching Ron straight in the nose—making the tall boy tumble back and reach his hand up to cover his bloody nose.

"Don't you dare talk about Luna that way; she doesn't deserve to be talked about that way!"

Harry seethed as Ron fell onto the ground in a heap, Hermione rushed forward and stood in front of Luna—as though she was checking and making sure that Luna would not be attacked next, but not by Harry (both girls knew that Harry would never lay a hand on Luna), instead she was protecting her from Ron if he tried to attack her again.

Luna stayed quiet as Harry picked up Ron by the back of his collar and head in the direction of the doorway, the Ravenclaws opened the door wordlessly and Ron was thrown forward so that he could hit the stone staircase.

"I thought that we would still be able to be friends, Ron. I knew that you were getting to be ruder and more hot tempered but I thought that you could learn to calm down. You've been nothing more than an Arsehole and insulting Luna was the last straw. Our friendship is over, Ron," Harry spat out at him before he walked back into the Common Room and the door shut behind him.

As it would turn out, what Harry had said was true. Insulting Luna for just being who she was and trying to defend that what her daddy and Mr. Waterborne had said was true meant that Ron was not friends with Harry anymore, especially Hermione. Hermione obviously didn't feel as though she should be friends with him but allowed him near her just because she was still trying to be nice.

Ron sat at the end of the Gryffindor table during the next morning, glaring down at his food as he narrowed his eyes upon the different assortment of utensils. It was obvious that he knew that he was going to get a Howler when his mum would find out that he had insulted Luna and Harry had decided that he didn't want to be friends with the Arsehole anymore.

Mandy merely raised her eyebrow in the direction of where Ron had sat glaring at the world around him before she picked up her Pumpkin Juice and took a long sip. She had calmly commented, "Good riddance," when he had been thrown out of the Common Room and almost went tumbling down the stairs.

"So how did his precious lions and lionesses feel when they found out that they insulted their golden boy's love?" Mandy probed to Luna as she sat the cup down onto the wooden table.

Luna blinked a few times as she tore her attention away from Ron and let her eyes wander towards the rest of the students that ignored Ron—a few of them were blocking him entirely and they had their back in his direction.

"They are upset, but not surprised. I know that they were expecting the friendship between Harry and him was not going to last forever. Harry loves Hermione; she is like a sister to him. Ron began to insult her and Harry became upset. I made a comment, as you know as you were there, and that was the last straw for Ronald. Now he is without friends and I do not know if he will ever have friends from Hogwarts again," Luna admitted as she craned her head to the side and turned her head in the direction of where Professor Umbridge was—she was sitting as close to the main chair at the faculty table but she hadn't been allowed the throne yet.

Luna found that the woman slowly picked up her food from her plate and ate delicately before she wiped away her food from a laced handkerchief that she had tucked away in one of her pockets of her suit dress coat.

She turned her head away before the woman could turn her own toad like head in Luna's direction. Her eyes landed on Harry and he turned his head in her direction—he was laughing at something that one of his countless housemates were saying and when his eyes landed on her they brightened even more.

She felt her heart race in her chest as she sighed, before she reached her hand up and placed it on her chest—feeling her heart ramming underneath her clothes. She blushed and looked down at her food before she picked up some sausages and ate them, drank some Pumpkin Juice, before she looked down and saw that she could be early for Defense against the Dark Arts with the Muggle watch that Ginny had sent her from The Burrow—it had been hidden away with the other assortment of Muggle objects that Mr. Weasley had hid from his wife.

If Professor Dumbledore was still the professor for the class then Luna would have been eagerly making her way to the class. Instead she was dealing with Professor Umbridge coming back so that she could take her rightful place as the professor and maybe one day as the headmistress of the school.

Luna did get up from her spot though when she knew that Professor Umbridge could not tell her to get back to her seat and walked out of the Great Hall—fixing the psychedelic satchel that was on her shoulder blade.

Behind her she could hear the sound of rapid footsteps following her out into the Great Hall. She turned her head, seeing that Hermione and Harry were coming towards her. She could see that Ron was tempted to get up and confront them about what he had done yesterday but she knew that he knew that he couldn't recover from this. He had insulted Luna and if it was anyone that Harry would have never allowed anyone to insult Luna would be the first and then Hermione.

Hermione hadn't cared if she was the second one that he would defend. She knew that he would defend her, and that was enough for her. She knew that Harry loved and respected her more than Ron could ever do so. She had never thought that she would want siblings, she had been so accustomed to just being an only child. Her parents never made her feel as though she should feel lonely for being an only child—she did have her lonely moments, that was true, but she still loved her parents. Now though she had a brother and a sister and they meant the world to her—thought they were not by blood but by choice.

"I needed to get away from the Great Hall. I do not like being in crowded places," Luna confessed to them and Hermione and Harry both nodded their heads as though they agreed to what she had admitted.

"Yeah, it could get really crowded in there. Besides I didn't want to deal with that wrenched woman anymore than I have to," Hermione mumbled as she cast a look over her eye at the oak doors.

Harry reached Luna and wrapped his hand around hers and she hummed as she leant her head against his shoulder. "I love you, Harry. I would say that I am sorry that you have lost your friendship with Ron but he brought this upon himself. He knew how much I mean to you and he knew that he could only get away with saying rude and demeaning things for so long. I can only hope that you can find someone new to have a lasting friendship with."

Harry bent his head down and kissed her on the top of her head before he hummed an agreement, as though to let her know that he had heard her and that he too hoped that he would find a new friend that could be a lasting one instead of a short one like Ron was. He had thought that he would have a lasting friend but in the end Ron wasn't that person that he thought he would have.

It would not be until Luna was leaning against one of the open windows of the Owelry with Harry, the both of them peering at the beautiful landscape in front of them that they would hear the random popping of someone appearing behind them. They slowly turned around and saw that Dobby the House Elf that Harry had rescued from the Malfoy family was standing in front of them.

"Master Harry, sir, Dobby has come to tell you that Professor Dumbledore wishes to speak with you," Dobby suddenly spoke and both Harry and Luna digested what he said before Harry nodded his head.

"Very well, take me to him. I'll see you later, Luna," Harry told them before he turned to Luna and kissed her on the forehead. Dobby was hopping up and down on his knobby legs before he rushed forward and Harry followed after him. Dobby was going on and off about some secret that Professor Dumbledore had said he needed to speak to Harry about and Harry was listening with patience even though Luna could tell that he could get on Harry's nerves very quickly.

Luna stood there for what seemed like hours but only was thirty minutes before she decided that she was done looking at the scenery around her. She wrapped her arms around her stiffly and turned her head, only to see that Professor Umbridge had appeared at the top of the stairs and that she had her lips locked together and she was arching her eyebrow.

"Oh, it's you, that irritating pest of a girl. I almost want to congratulate you for getting me into trouble. It made your precious Albus Dumbledore look even worse than he does. To allow his students carelessly claim that a Ministry official, much less the Undersecretary of the Minster of Magic himself, to have a blood quill and torture her students with it would make them question your headmaster even more. They know that we are the people that they should trust, not your professors or you headmaster. So I should thank you, Miss Lovegood, for doing something that was ingenious for even you to come up with."

Luna was the one this time to keep her mouth shut, as though to let her know that she was not going to speak to her. She stepped forward and began to move towards the staircase only for Professor Umbridge to sigh sadly, "I am quite sad though that I never had the chance to scar you or your little boyfriend. That would have been the icing on the cake. Alas I cannot have another blood quill, for the one that was given to me was only a one chance offer from Minister Fudge."

Luna began to head down the stairs but the retched woman had continued to spill words from her mouth as though she had been waiting for this very moment where she could release all that she had wanted to tell Luna. "By the way, it would best for you to keep your mouth shut this time. I wouldn't want to be expelled if I were you, I am certain that I will be given the role of Headmistress after this semester is over and that is enough for me to be glad to stand on the sidelines."

Luna slowly turned so that she was facing the woman. Behind them they could hear the hooting of the owls that were minding their own business. Luna knew that she could call for Amite and the owl would be nothing more than proud and happy and honored to be able to be the one to claw out Professor Umbridge's eyes.

Instead Luna gave her a sweet smile, one that would have set someone else on ease but only made Professor Umbridge hate her even more.

"Expelling me would be a blessing, Professor Umbridge. I would rather be expelled than be under your reign. Now, if you would excuse me, I have some homework to complete."

Professor Umbridge barely had time to gasp at what the girl had said before she saw the flicker of black robes that let her know that Luna had already turned the corner of the stairs and she was left alone here where there were owls and droppings from said owls encrusted on the ground.

To make matters worse for the Head Inquisitor an owl flew above her and splattered its own dropping onto her right shoulder blade. If she had cared to look up she would have seen that it was Hedwig that had come to give her own justice.


	55. Dumbledore's Army

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**55:**_ Dumbledore's Army_

**Luna **was in the library, scanning over a different array of subjects in order to write down notes that she needed for her classes. She was one of the best students in Defense against the Dark Arts, although Luna knew that the woman had wanted nothing more than to get Luna in detention again so that she could punish her for even breathing. Luna was smart though—she knew that she couldn't speak out against Professor Umbridge when it came to saying that Voldemort wasn't back because she knew that within time Voldemort would do something that would make the Ministry believe Luna and the others at last.

She was tapping the feather of her quill against the side of her cheekbone as she looked down at the textbook that was in front of her. It was for Potions and Luna was quite smart when it came to the class but she wasn't as into it as she should have been. Professor Snape still looked at her with an arched eyebrow and weariness, as though he didn't know what to expect from the girl that had Harry Potter's heart.

To be honest no one really knew what to expect from Luna, because none of them understood what it was about her that would make Harry fall effortlessly in love with her without doing anything at all.

She glanced up when she heard the footsteps approach her and saw that her Harry was heading towards her. He was wearing a jumper that Sirius had sent for him—Dora had gone out and bought Harry a jumper so that he wouldn't have to wear Dudley's garbage bag jumpers that would swallow Harry whole.

"Hello Harry," Luna warmly greeted him as he reached her and leant against the oak study table and glanced behind him. Madam Pince was currently stocking books on the other side of the library, checking each and every one of them without using her wand in order to make sure that none of her books had been vandalized.

"Luna, would you like to go on a walk with me?" Harry reached his hand out so that his palm was facing her. Luna smiled more at him as she shut her books and began to put them back into her satchel—thankful once more that Mrs. Weasley had taught her that spell so that she could do this.

She knew that Harry had been stressed lately due to them having to get permission from Professor Umbridge to do Quidditch. It was to no surprise that Slytherin automatically got accepted and allowed to play and it took a while for Gryffindor to do so because it was obviously Professor Umbridge's least favorite House at Hogwarts.

Hufflepuff was the most afraid of her but they also hated her just as much as Gryffindor due to the fact that she just pushed Cedric Diggory's death to the side and claiming that Cedric had died because of his carelessness. Most of them agreed with Harry but others did not—they still did not care to have Professor Umbridge speaking about Cedric as though he was just another number, another example of what happened when someone wasn't at their best in the Triwizard Tournament.

Getting up from her spot, Luna pushed her chair back and took Harry's hand in hers before he waited for her to stand completely next to him. Together they walked out of the library, quietly giving their greetings to the students that were currently in the library and were reading for their classes.

"I have something that I have to show you." Harry glanced over at her and Luna nodded her head, "Oh, I expected that much. I will not be surprised if it has something to do with Professor Dumbledore. Dobby did ask you to come with him so that you could go see the professor."

Harry was the one this time who nodded his head, as though to let her know that what she had said was true. They stayed quiet after this though, knowing that it would be best not to keep talking about where they were going or the fact that where they were going was a secret because they knew that there were those that would be eager to listen in on what they were saying and report them to Professor Umbridge.

One of those people happened to be Draco Malfoy. Luna was not surprised when the boy wanted to prove his loyalty to the Ministry and Luna knew that he only did so because he didn't want to be abused by his father again. It made her heart clench at this knowledge, he didn't deserve to be slapped or hit or spat at because he didn't agree with what his father believed in.

They went up and up and up and up and Luna knew that if she didn't count the floors in her mind that she would have forgotten which floor they ended up on. Harry glanced over his shoulder again, this time longer, before he nodded his head and gently pulled her in the direction of where the end of the corridor was opposite of the tapestry of Bamabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls.

Luna watched as he walked back and forth three times with a concentrated look before a door appeared. She blinked a few times before she beamed brightly and rushed towards the door. She brought her hand up and brushed her fingers up against the door before she looked back at Harry, "it's the Room of Requirement. Mum used to tell me that she would go into a room that wasn't used very often because it was very tricky to find. I should have known that it was this!"

"Come in, we can talk in there and we'll be safe. I can't talk to you about what I want to talk to you about while out here."

Luna followed behind him and walked in; gasping at the sight of the colorful room that she stepped into. Everywhere she could see there were hand painted murals of flowers and animals and some of her favorite pieces of art that her daddy had gotten for her that were her animals that she could see were plastered over the walls. She beamed and clasped her hands together.

"Oh, Harry! I love it!" Luna commented dreamily before she leant up and kissed Harry on the cheek. Harry blushed before he took her hand and gently guided her to a simple psychedelic chair. He sat down and she plopped down on his lap, leaning against his chest and humming some.

"Why did you bring me here, Harry? I know that you brought me here for more than just having a place where we can go to. Does it have to do with Professor Umbridge?" Luna pulled her head away and craned it to the side, waiting patiently as she sat there and peered up at him with her cloudy eyes.

Harry nodded her head, "Ever since we found out about the stupid rule that Professor Umbridge had made I was talking to Hermione and she told me that we shouldn't just sit in the classroom and learn spells out of a textbook. There's nothing wrong with learning through a book on some subjects but we need to learn how to defend ourselves for when Voldemort comes and attacks us directly."

"Oh, that makes sense. I haven't had time to talk to Hermione; I have been spending time with Mandy. I was not spending much time with her so I knew that I should. Enough about that, you can continue."

Harry continued as though he hadn't been interrupted by Luna, "she told me that I should teach everyone how to do defense spells. I was weary about it at first and Professor Dumbledore found out about it and indirectly told me that he wouldn't be completely opposed to me doing what I thought was right, and what he knew I needed to do to defend myself and others from Voldemort.

"Dobby told me about the Room of Requirement and told me how to get into it. Next thing I knew I did what he had told me to do and I actually managed to get in here. I haven't brought Hermione in here; I wanted to show you first. Do you think that it would be the right thing to do?" Harry was the one who waited patiently for her response and Luna thought for a moment before she responded.

"I believe that we have the right to do what we think is right and we know is right. You know that I do not have a nice opinion on the Ministry, so you know that I am up for anything that directly opposes it. You are also correct when it comes to the fact that we know that Voldemort could easily find students and target the families that were against him when he was alive. He could also target Muggle-borns if he has the opportunity to do so, and I know that we need to defend ourselves.

"There is nothing wrong with learning through a textbook, but there are some things that you cannot truly teach while just teaching through a textbook. I believe that Defense against the Dark Arts is one of those things. So I support you one hundred percent on starting this group. I also think that Hermione was smart to think of this—I was too busy making sure to have Professor Umbridge pay attention to me instead of you when she came back."

Harry smiled as he held her tighter against him, not too tight, but enough to let her know that he treasured her. She smiled dreamily as she leant back against him. A fireplace sat off in front of them and was lit—burning brightly and bringing in the much needed warmth.

It would not be until Luna ran into Hermione during the next weekend that Hermione took Luna by the hand and pulled her into an abandoned corridor near the courtyard. "Hello, Hermione, it is nice to see you. I expect that you wanted to talk to me about Harry and what you had proposed for him. I also want you to know that I support you one hundred percent."

Hermione glanced around before she spoke, "I am glad that you support us. I thought that we should go to Hog's Head in Hogsmeade during our next trip and have a meeting there. We can see who wants to come and join us. We will come up with a name for the group and pick who will teach, since Harry has claimed that he doesn't feel right to be the one teaching."

Luna agreed instantly, knowing that this was the right thing to do. It would be too crowded at Three Broomsticks and that Hogsmeade was the perfect place to go—those that were intent on joining could go to the sketchy restaurant/bar that was leaning more towards a bar than anything else (yes they sold Butter Beer but they could obviously sell Fire Whiskey and other assortment of wizard alcohol).

She also knew that Harry would be chosen to be the one who would teach them the right spells. No one else could be chosen. Sure Hermione could be chosen if she had experienced completely what Harry had experienced but she hadn't. She wasn't the one who had faced Voldemort straight on and survived to tell the tale that not that many wanted to believe in.

It was the hard and scary truth. Anything that was scary and was possibly linked to getting killed was something that no one wanted to hear no matter how hard it would be swallowed and how lethal it could be.

And on the day that it happened, and everyone came to Hog's Head they were greeted with more classmates than they thought they would be greeted with. The majority of the Gryffindor's came and a good amount of Ravenclaws came. Not that many Hufflepuffs came but enough that let them know that they wanted to learn how to cast the right spells because they knew that they needed to know how to defend themselves. Of course no Slytherins came.

Luna stood next to Harry and held his hand as he told them that he didn't think he was the right person to do the spell but everyone didn't listen to him. Luna made noises of agreement, knowing that it wasn't the right time to speak about silly things. Though she was tempted to do so whenever they would mention Professor Umbridge—she knew that the horrid woman would eventually get what was coming for her.

Instead she smiled when there was voting that asked if Harry should be the one to teach them. Every hand rose up and Harry sighed, finally agreeing with reluctance. He should have known how talented he was—he was the youngest wizard to ever be able to perform a Patronus, which meant how strong of a wizard he was. He even survived facing off against Voldemort!

It would not be until Luna was sitting in the Ravenclaw Common Room with Harry next to her—her fingers running through his hair as he leant his head against her lap that she looked down at him. "I am very proud of you, Harry. You are strong and brave and very intelligent. You may not be Ravenclaw intelligent but you are intelligent in your own way, and I love you even more for that. You are who you are and you should never be ashamed of it.

"You could have gone in a different path, my Harry. You could have learned to loath your Muggle relatives and could have easily tortured them or tried to kill them but you did not. You tolerated you and yes you might hate them but I hope that one day you can forgive them. You have another family, a family that cares about you so much and though they are not by blood they are by heart and you have done amazing things and for that I could never be more proud than I am right now."

She had not expected for Harry to cry, she had seen him cry only once and that was when Cedric had died. Though when she saw him now instead of when he came out of the maze—she knew that he was not beautiful. How could someone look at someone who was crying and automatically think that what they saw was beautiful when it was real? He was not beautiful but he was real and for that she was stunned by how he could tear himself apart and show his real self to her.

She shushed him as she took his glasses off and sat them off to the side—safe of course. She sat there and allowed him to cry, allowed all the stress that had built up throughout the years come out through his tears. She was thankful that it was not too late and that curfew hadn't come yet but when Harry came and Luna asked for privacy they actually listened to her—they knew that sometimes Harry and Luna needed time alone. They didn't ask for it much but they still did what they asked—mainly because they knew that they wouldn't be able to focus on their studies with Harry and Luna so blatantly speaking.

When he was done he sat up and she was greeted with him giving her a sweet kiss, one of complete love and of softness. She soaked in all that he was as he gave her the sweetest kiss that she had experienced so far in her life.

She was so proud of him, that much she knew.


	56. Saint Mungo's

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**56:**_ Saint Mungo's_

**Many things **happened when Harry and the others started their secret group that was against Professor Umbridge and all that she stood—including how she taught Defense against the Dark Arts. Every week they met in the Room of Requirement at eight o'clock so that they could practice their spells—which also revealed that they needed to work on them a little harder than they originally thought they would.

Luna and the others trusted Harry and listened to him with patience and eagerness.

They had named the club Dumbledore's Army, knowing that it would be ironic and that it stood for what they thought was right.

Hermione soon found a charm that she could do with galleons that changed the numbers on them to match the date that they would go to meet at the Room of Requirement—along with turning warm when the dates changed so that they would know automatically what had been changed (it was a Protean Charm).

Neville surprised everyone when he successfully managed to disarm Hermione, surprising even Hermione but she soon congratulated him and told him that she was proud of him.

Ever since her friendship with Ron had been terminated she was more free and allowed to be her true self without having to hear the hateful comments that Ron would throw her way—he seemed to learn that he was an outcast in his own House and learnt that he should keep his mouth shut unless he would face more backlash from his House and more Howlers from his mum.

Parvati had everyone fear her when she did a Reductor curse and reduced a table carrying Sneakoscopes to dust. Boys took steps backwards and evaluated if they should even comment more irritating things to her but knew that as long as they didn't tremendously anger the Indian girl they should be safe from having the same thing happen to them as the table.

Quidditch season came and Luna could tell that Professor Umbridge was anything but excited for the new season. She seemed to look down upon the sport and almost looked as though she would roll her eyes at the sight of Professor McGonagall being in the spirit, though they could tell that the Deputy Headmistress would stand up for her own self and obviously show the horrid woman that she cared not what she commented or wrote about her because the woman was a bitch (Professor McGonagall had been known to almost call the woman Umbitch instead of Umbridge, even some of the students that were more vulgar called her that behind her back).

Luna had created a life size lion hat that roared whenever she tapped it with her wand, which in return made some of the students jump up when they were passing by her and almost drop their books and their Pumpkin Juice or tea. Some of them shot her looks of aggravation or exasperation at the knowledge that Luna had created another thing that would get on people's nerves.

Harry had chuckled when he had seen the hat and did nothing more than kiss her on the cheek, proud of his Luna for still getting in the Quidditch spirit enough to actually create something one of a kind but still was obviously her for the spirit that he loved tremendously.

They always started off the Quidditch season with Gryffindor against Slytherin, and word had spread that the Keeper position for the snakes ended up being Miles Bletchley, who filled in the cliché Slytherin Keeper role perfectly.

He was big, ugly, and hot tempered.

It also didn't help that with Ron being on the Quidditch team and being the Keeper, it obviously showed that it wouldn't be an easy match after all. Ron didn't do good at practice and he kept quiet, it even became worse when it was known that his brothers completely turned their backs on him and kept their entire attention on Oliver Wood so that they would be able to have their best chance at having a winning season in their last year at Hogwarts.

The Slytherins had badges that said 'Weasley is our King' and although everyone defended Ron it was obvious that they were just sticking up for another Gryffindor. They knew that even Ron didn't deserve this treatment that he was given, even if he was an Arsehole and had received an Howler from his own sister, Ginny, which was quite interesting to hear at the breakfast table that morning.

She had sounded just like her mother and it had frightened both George and Fred at the knowledge that they should never get on their sister's bad side in fear that she would turn her wrath to them. Thankfully neither of the twins seemed as though they had done anything that would completely anger their fire headed little sister.

The match was not as suspenseful as one would imagine, Ron was not the greatest at pressure from others so he often missed hitting some of the Quaffle balls because he was too slow, especially when Pansy Parkinson herself stood in front of the whole lot of Slytherins and began to conduct an chant that the they had come up with (Luna had no doubt in her mind that her cousin came up with the chant).

**_Weasley cannot save a thing,_**

**_ He cannot block a single ring,_**

**_ That's why Slytherins all sing:_**

**_ Weasley is our king_**

**_ Weasley was born in a bin_**

**_ He always lets the Quaffle in,_**

**_ Weasley will make sure we win,_**

**_Weasley is our king_**

**_Weasley is our king_**

**_Weasley is our king,_**

**_He always lets the Quaffle in,_**

**_Weasley is our king_**

To say the least every Gryffindor had their eyes twitching from the chant that the Slytherins were singing, because they knew that it would without a doubt distract Ron. Anyone else on the team wouldn't allow those words get to them but Ron already had a low enough self esteem and being degraded by the Slytherins while in an actual match would make his nerves even worse.

That was it was to no surprise that when the match ended Harry had hopped off of his broom and stalked towards Draco (he flinched a little bit because he had been hit by a bludger, Crabbe or Goyle hit him with it, which ever dumb Beater did it)—who was conversing with his friends and telling them how proud of them he was at the fact that the chant had done its job.

Draco had barely turned to look at Harry, ready to let the degenerate words spill from his lips only for Harry to punch him in the stomach. Draco huffed and almost fell over, and he was gasping for the temporary air that had been taken from him. He had straightened up and began to stalk towards Harry but stopped when Professor Umbridge screeched as she came down the stand that held the faculty, obviously prepared to give Harry detention.

Thankfully Professor McGonagall was faster than the toad like woman and appeared next to Harry—angered at the fact that Harry had decided to punch the pureblood out in the public (Ron had momentary become happier at the thought of Harry sticking up for him but he paused when he knew that whatever friendship he had with Harry was over and Harry was only mad because Ron had done a horrible job).

She had went to give Harry detention only for Professor Umbridge to grin widely and claim that she would make sure that Harry would get a proper punishment. It wouldn't be until the next morning when Luna was sitting in one of the silver pattern Victorian chairs in her Common Room that she was greeted with the Common Room door to almost slam open from Harry's angered response.

Immediately everyone stopped what they were doing, this time intrigued to see what it was that made Harry mad. It obviously had nothing to do with Ron, and usually with Draco he wasn't this angry but they had a feeling that the person that made him this angry was Professor Umbridge and whatever she had done seemed to have crossed the line once again for Harry.

"I got kicked off the team! I'm banned! I can't play Quidditch anymore!" Harry screamed as he paced back and forth in the carpentered room and Luna wordlessly stood up with her hot cup of tea and drifted over to Harry. She ushered him to one of the chairs and he almost yanked himself from her but decided not to.

"Not right now, Lune," he finally said and Luna sighed before she nodded her head and went back to her chair. She was going to offer him some of tea, and it wasn't Gurdyroot tea, it was just normal Chamomile tea.

"She said that she had just created a decree, apparently number twenty-five, and it's where she has the supreme authority of all punishments, sanctions and removal of privileges. She can change what the professors say too," Harry informed them and some of the Ravenclaws muttered their disagreements but others did not say anything because they knew that it was best not to get in trouble.

Soon everything became a mudded pattern of people getting detentions and having Professor Umbridge come swooping in to see if she could do anything to change the detentions. She didn't really do that as much as she said she would—though she did give those who she had known that believed in Harry and was in his House worse detentions and punishments than others.

Even Cho Chang had gotten a nasty detention when she stood up for Harry and Luna, everyone had taken five steps away from her in fear that the girl would hex the woman dead right in front of her.

When Luna had decided that she was going to stay for Christmas this year, she hadn't expected to hear that Hermione's parents had decided that they should go Skiing this Christmas. Ron was going to The Burrow and Luna had smiled with Ginny had offered her to switch places with Ron so that she could hang out with Luna and Harry at Hogwarts instead of staying home alone with her brothers.

Harry had decided to throw a Christmas party for DA (Dumbledore's Army) before everyone left and despite Luna telling him to be careful with the mistletoe he had put a good amount within the room. Luna had rolled her eyes and put a Butterbeer Cap necklace around his neck in order to make sure that the Nargles would be repelled away from him.

Ron had stood in the corner of the room and drank some Butter Beers while watching his brothers try to offer different candies that were charmed—Neville was one of the victims and he reacted horribly to the candies, the effects a little stronger than a normal reaction was supposed to be.

Everyone had fun, though Luna had longed to have Ginny here so that she could roll her eyes at her brothers. She could laugh and throw her arm around Luna's shoulders while she would tell some wild anecdote about the time with Ginny had come over to Luna's house with fake mistletoe decorated on her headband and how the Lovegoods almost looked as though they were going to have heart attacks.

Yet it wouldn't be until Luna was woken by Professor McGonagall herself—in her burgundy nightwear—and Professor Flitwick standing next to the woman with worry in his eyes that Luna knew that something had happened and it was worse than she imagined. Her mind automatically went towards her daddy and she felt her heart race even more than it originally had but what she hadn't expected to hear was for Professor McGonagall telling her that she needed to go see Professor Dumbledore because something had happened with Mr. Weasley.

Changing into some loose legged blue jeans, a random sweater and some boots, Luna hurried out of the Ravenclaw tower and rushed in the direction of where Professor Dumbledore's office was. It had pissed off Professor Umbridge to death when she had found out that she could not go into the office because she wasn't the headmistress of the school and only Professor Dumbledore could go in.

When Luna entered the office she saw that Harry was standing by one of the chairs and that he had sweat dripping down his forehead and that he was shaking. She ran over to him and touched his face, her cold hand hitting his hot surfaced face—enough to make him look at her.

"I saw Mr. Weasley get attacked, Luna. I saw…no I was a snake—"

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and motioned his hand towards the fireplace that was lit green, letting them know that they could enter and appear where they needed to be. "I have opened my fireplace directly to The Burrow. You will go with Molly and the others to Saint Mungo's."

Luna felt her eyes widen as she looked at the professor, "what happened? Is Mr. Weasley okay, and what about Ginny? Was she attacked too?"

Professor Dumbledore merely walked over to the fireplace and both teenagers knew that the professor was telling them to get through the fireplace without saying anything. So the two teenagers did what he asked, walking through the fireplace and ending up in The Burrow.

When they appeared in the living room of The Burrow it was Dora and Remus that were standing around Ginny and Ron—they were both in their pajamas and they looked absolutely terrified at the thought of them losing their father. Even Harry and Luna felt their hearts clench at the thought of the two Weasleys losing their father, no one wanted to lose a parent when they were children or teenagers that they loved dearly.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here. Come, we need to Apparate near the hospital so that we can walk the rest of the way. Luna, Harry take a hold of Dora and Ginny, Ron take a hold of me. Keep your hold on us tight."

All four teenagers did what was asked of them and they grabbed their assigned temporary transportation with as much strength as they could. They closed their eyes and allowed the weird feeling of Apparation take over them before they stumbled while standing in an empty and abandoned alleyway.

Dora turned her head and looked down at the children, seeing that Luna was the only one who had normal clothes on while everyone else had pajamas on. She tapped her wand and the three other teenagers had normal everyday clothes on instead of their nightwear pajamas.

"Come now, stay quiet and don't say anything," Remus told them as he walked forward and the others followed after him. There was almost no one outside; it was too dark and dreadful for there to be random people making their way around London at such an hour.

Luna was not surprised when they reached an empty storefront display that had a mannequin on it and a sign on the door that said that they were renovating the place, or when the mannequin talked and the two adults told them to walk through the glass and they would appear in Saint Mungo's.

She did as they asked and when they appeared in the hospital lobby they were welcomed with a different assortment of witches and wizards that needed help to have their charms removed. Luna was not perplexed with any of the signs of domestic altercations and instead followed Dora and Remus to the reception desk where they asked where they could find Arthur Weasley.

Around them they could see Healers traveling with lime green robes on and moving around like a well oiled machine. Most of them did not show any surprise when they were welcomed with the sights that they were in front of them. Others though looked as though this was their first day without their supervisor and they were one second away from having a meltdown or passing out.

After having their wands checked to make sure that they were safe, and being told where the creature induced injuries were (which happened to be on the first floor ironically), they headed down the hallways and arrived at the room number where Mr. Weasley was taking residence in.

When the door opened and they were greeted with Mr. Weasley and another patient that had his curtain drawn (it was obvious that it was a Lycan from the groaning that he was making and mumbled words), Luna felt her heart stop beating so strongly and relax completely.

She knew that everyone was all right, even if Mr. Weasley was attacked by Nagini, Voldemort's snake, everyone had survived to live another day. And at that moment Luna allowed herself to focus all her attention on making sure that they were all going to be okay.


	57. the Great Escape

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**57:**_ the Great Escape_

**It took **some time for Mr. Weasley to be released from Saint Mungo's. To make things even more interesting and a slow process, Mr. Weasley had decided that he should let the young new Healer that was watching over Mr. Weasley give the wizard stitches.

Molly Weasley was anything but pleased when she heard of the 'barbaric' practices that her husband and staff at Saint Mungo's was doing, but Luna thought that it should not be as worrisome as the seven children mother should make it out to be. Stitches were still being used for Muggles and they could be dissolved.

Of course it must have had something to do with Arthur Weasley, that anything that was connected with Muggles was an okay in his book and he didn't consult with his wife on something that had to with surgery, so yes in a way Luna could tell why Mrs. Weasley would be angered beyond compare at having her husband laugh nervously as she noted that he had been sewn up like a doll.

Now though, Luna sat at the Ravenclaw table and was drinking some tea when Mandy widened her eyes at the newspaper that fell into her hands from one of the school owls. She opened up newspaper from its rolled up tube like state and almost dropped the newspaper completely when she saw that the Daily Prophet had claimed that there was a breakout in Azkaban and that the majority of the escapees were the most loyal Death Eaters that Voldemort could have.

Bellatrix Lestrange had her photograph front and center—larger than the other photographs of her other inmates. Her hair was just as wild as before, her eyes just as eerie gleaming with a darkness that let others know that no one really was home anymore within her and that she was insane. She listened to no one but Voldemort and now that she was free she was going to be reunited with her beloved.

Luna did not spit at the newspaper nor did she scowl at it. She didn't tremble at the sight of her deranged aunt plastered on the newspaper—claiming that she had escaped from a place that was supposed to be inescapable but had ended up having her second cousins evade being caught when they escaped.

"Aren't you worried, Luna?" Mandy probed to her best friend as she sat the newspaper down. In the distance Luna could tell in the corner of her eye that her cousin had straightened up his back and that his eyes had become fearful for a split second before he made his emotions bury themselves deep within him again. It was obvious that he wasn't looking forward to having a family reunion.

He didn't have Dora or Sirius on his side; he wasn't on the light side. Instead he was going to be greeted with his aunt and uncle that were faithful followers of Voldemort. It was obvious that she had gotten the better deal in the end when it came to what relatives she would be reunited with.

"I am more concerned for Draco. I know that he is the one who will have to be in contact with our aunt. He does not deserve the family that he has been given," Luna responded as she frowned and then looked down at her food again. She forked her sausage that sat on her plate and began to eat it—her eyes drifting away from her food and in the direction of where Harry was.

He held a letter that he hadn't opened yet and she craned her head to the side but decided that if it concerned her that he would tell her. She wasn't someone that made someone tell her what was wrong, mainly because she knew that if it wasn't her business then she didn't need to know it.

When breakfast was over, Luna headed out of the Great Hall and saw Harry jogging in her direction. Hermione told him that she was going to save him a seat in class and Luna made sure to put all her attention on Harry. The both of them lingered behind everyone else and she brought her hand out—Harry took her hand in his and they curled their fingers together as they soaked in the warmth of holding hands.

Professor Umbridge had already left to go to her first class, and was obviously more concerned on causing mayhem within the classroom—since it was the first class of the day and she wanted to spread misery as bright and early as possible.

"I got a letter from Sirius. It's not for me though, it's for you," Harry quietly informed Luna as she listened intently to him. "I didn't read it but I have a feeling that it has to do with the breakout."

"Oh, yes, I am quite sure that Sirius wanted to make sure that I am all right. I am certain that he has felt sad and angered to not have been here to see me grow up, and possibly it might also have to do with the fact that Mum never thought to try and have me built relationships with her side of the family—even the ones that aren't bad, such as Sirius and Dora," Luna responded to him, before she reached her hand out and Harry handed the letter to her.

Grabbing the letter, Luna softly put the letter into her psychedelic satchel (she knew that it was safer for her to have a letter from someone that was still basically wanted in the Ministry tucked away in a safe place), and then leant over so that she could place a sweet kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you for telling me, Harry. I will read it when I have some free time tonight. Have a good day," Luna quietly told him before she drifted down the hallway and allowed herself to push away all troubled thoughts away into the back of her mind, knowing that she didn't need to be swamped with such horrid thoughts when she should be happy that she had two cousins that she loved dearly.

As soon as classes were over, Luna headed towards where the Room of Requirement was and asked for a room that would allow her the privacy to read the letter—making sure that the door would only be revealed to Harry or Hermione, so that they knew that she was using the room and they could enter if they wished to.

Entering the small room, one that was smaller than a normal average sized room was, Luna headed over to the middle of the room and sat down in a glittery pink bean bag, there were yellow and green and purple beanbags that were around the center of the room—forming a circle.

Getting comfortable, Luna pulled the letter out of her satchel and smiled when she saw that the envelope had her cousin's messy handwriting on it along with his signature, he even had a paw print from his dog form on it. She giggled some at the knowledge that the little detail would be quirky and that Luna would love it.

Opening the letter, Luna began to read it.

**_ Luna,_**

**_ I have been given news that there was a breakout in Azkaban and that many of You-Know-Who's followers managed to escape. One of those that had escaped happened to be your aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange. I am certain without a doubt that you know enough about the woman from your mother, if not from the media._**

**_ When the break comes I do not think I could deal with the thought of her finding out that you are alive and that she did indeed have a cousin that was not killed like she originally thought had happened. I do not want her to find you or your father because you are family and I have already lost enough friend and families from You-Know-Who, both directly and indirectly._**

**_ I ask for you to consider the thought of spending the summer with me, you will of course bring your father. I would feel better if you were able to stay with me because then you would be safer._**

**_ Let me know what you decide when you do so. Do not hurry with responding but please don't wait forever do so._**

**_ Your cousin,_**

**_ Sirius Black_**

Luna closed the letter and put it back into the envelope. She tapped her fingers against the sides of the beanbag that she was currently sitting in and thought of Sirius back in Grimmauld and how he had no family that he could feel connected to and feel loved and accepted. Well no family that was of blood directly, his family happened to be Potters—it was a known fact that Sirius had spent as many breaks as possible with the Potters so that he wouldn't have to go back to his home.

Sirius had informed them about different things that James and he would do when he was spending time with the pureblood family. Mrs. Potter had a mild temper but Mr. Potter was the one who was the one that would be angered easily, apparently he was focused on his image even though he still loved his family.

He was good, Luna knew, but she also knew that Mr. Potter had cared about image and that when James and Lily had Harry that her mum had said that the Potters had the front page of the Daily Prophet when it came to Harry being a male and continuing the Potter bloodline.

Luna was wrapped up in her thoughts, wondering what her daddy would say when she would send a letter telling him all that had happened. She knew that her daddy would be upset and hurt that she had told him that she had found out who her real family was on her mum's side of the family and not only that but her second cousin happened to be Sirius Black, and the other happened to be Bellatrix Lestrange.

She hadn't heard the door opening but when she heard two bodies plopping down into beanbags she looked up and saw that Hermione and Harry were sitting near and they were looking at her with patience. She wordlessly held out the letter and Harry had grabbed the letter.

Hermione situated herself so that she could read the letter next to Harry, the both of them scanning over the words that Sirius had written and absorbing what he had said before they looked back up again.

"Why are you so sad, Luna? I haven't seen you this worried in a while? Isn't this a good thing? Wouldn't you want to spend the summer with Sirius?" Hermione quietly probed this to her weird friend.

Luna kept her eyes on the carpet below her and spoke, "Daddy doesn't know of my mum's side of the family, as you know, and Mum was adopted. Daddy always thought that Mum just was from another normal family, he never knew that Mum is really a Black."

"Oh, you're worried that your dad is going to be mad at you for not telling him the truth? Or you think that your dad won't want you anymore because you have Black blood in you? Do you really think that your dad would disown you because of something like that?" Hermione quietly continued and Harry got up from his spot at his beanbag before he made his way over to Luna. He sat down on the carpet next to her, taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze—a reassurance that he was here for her.

"Daddy wouldn't be mad at me….maybe at first, a little bit. It is Mum though that Daddy would be mad at. Daddy loved Mum with all of his heart and he never wanted to bury her at such a young age but I don't know what Daddy would do if he found out that Mum lied to him from the very start."

Luna felt tears drip down her cheekbones at the thought of her dad not loving her mum anymore because of the fact that her mum was actually the sister of Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda. Andromeda wouldn't be too bad, but the other two were completely horrible in the eyes of her daddy.

Luna felt sorry for Aunt Narcissa—she couldn't imagine what it would be like to be in a family where all that was expected of you was to be the proper Death Eater wife and do whatever her husband and Voldemort asked of her to do. All she could do was give her son over if Voldemort asked her to and she would, but the whole time her heart would be tearing in her chest at the knowledge that her son could become a Death Eater—something that she never wanted for him.

"Aunt Narcissa isn't like Aunt Bellatrix though," Luna suddenly commented and she looked up at the two teenagers that were a year older than her. Harry had a look of weariness at the thought of his Luna telling him that her aunt wasn't as horrible as she was displayed but Luna was not defending the woman and all that she had done—she knew that Aunt Narcissa was better than Aunt Bellatrix.

"I don't like talking about comparing those two women together but you do have a point," Hermione admitted as she pulled her beanbag closer to them and turned it so that she was facing them completely. She handed the letter back to Luna and she tucked it away in her satchel.

"She was so happy when she met me a few years ago, you should have seen how happy she was. She never got the chance to meet Dora—and I have a feeling that Aunt Narcissa doesn't like half-bloods or Muggle-borns, because that was how she was raised and she'll never like them but I don't feel as though she would want her own family members to be murdered…" Luna didn't know if what she had just said was true, she didn't know if her aunt did have murderous intentions but as far as she knew her aunt never killed other people, unlike Aunt Bellatrix.

"She also wasn't the one who had tortured Neville's parents. That was Bellatrix," Hermione suddenly spoke, as though to give a point in favor towards Aunt Narcissa than Aunt Bellatrix. "As far as I can tell there have been no accounts of people claiming that they were tortured directly by Narcissa Malfoy, they say that she was silent and that she was in the background."

The three teenagers sat there and thought about Luna's two darker aunts than Dora's mum. As they did so, Luna was welcomed with the knowledge that her best friends were going to be here with her—and that if her daddy wasn't going to Grimmauld then she was, even if he didn't want to.

It was about time that she did something that her daddy might not be pleased to do so, she had been shut away from so many different relatives in the past that it was about time that she be allowed to go and spend some time with Sirius—a Black that loved and cared for her the way a second cousin should.


	58. Decree 27

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**58:**_ Decree 27_

**Luna knew **that a way to spread the truth to all of the Wizarding community that what Harry had said was true and to put the lies that Professor Umbridge said about Harry to rest, was to have something come out to tell the true story behind what happened during the Triwizard Tournament in the final task.

A large amount of teenagers didn't believe in Harry, but maybe that was because he was basically dating Luna Lovegood and they didn't like him to begin with.

So when Rita Skeeter came out with a particular nasty article that had to do with Harry and the Triwizard Tournament (one that had a lot of Slytherin students from the past and of the now giving statements about Harry), it didn't take long for both Luna and Hermione to come up with the thought of Harry doing an interview with Mr. Lovegood so that the students could learn the truth and the rest of the Wizarding community—Harry had lost some good friends due to the event in itself and had wanted everyone to know that he wasn't a liar anymore.

"I will write to Daddy and ask him to do the interview. I know that he is quite skittish around you, Harry, but he is quite skittish around most people. I hope that this interview will gain more readers for The Quibbler and show that what you say is really the truth," Luna addressed as she sat in the Gryffindor Common Room with both Hermione and Harry one night—doing her homework with them. She knew that they liked to come to the Ravenclaw Common Room to study but she did like coming here as much as often so that she could feel more warmth from the House than her own.

She barely paid attention to some of the creatures that drifted around her, the same amount of crazy colored animals were around the twins. If they could be seen by everyone some people would have to look away from the neon colors that were flashing and swirling, the creatures could cause epilepsy if one who was susceptible to one stared at the creatures for too long.

Harry yawned randomly and Hermione gave him a small, saddened smile at the knowledge that Harry had Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape at six o'clock most nights, which in return would make Harry insanely tired because it strained his mind and his energy at the same time.

As Luna went to write something down onto her parchment paper she heard the sound of someone tripping behind her. "Are you all right, Neville?"

She didn't have to look up to know that it was Neville Longbottom that had tripped; he had been doing that quite a lot lately. Some people wondered if a Slytherin had charmed the boy to trip a lot but Luna and both Hermione and Harry knew that sometimes Neville had spurts of clumsiness.

"I'm fine, my hat fell a little in front of my eyes—that's all," Neville responded as he stood up and dusted off the imaginary dust that was on him. He was wearing his heavy clothes and it was apparent that he had grown some and his clothes were starting to show how much he had changed.

"Oh, Neville, that hat is going to be the death of you, I swear. I think you need to call your grandmother and ask her to get another hat for you. It is too big, you need one that suits you better," Hermione tsked at the rather plump boy—he wasn't as fat as he used to be but he was still on the plumper side.

Neville gave a glum look and shook his head, "it wouldn't work. Gran makes me wear some hand-me-downs because she likes to relive the memories, I think. If I told her that I needed another hat she would be heartbroken and I don't want to upset her. Besides…Ginny said that she would go hat shopping with me during Easter Break…so I have that to look forward to."

"You're going shopping with Ginny, huh?" Hermione arched her eyebrow up as she gave the boy a small smirk, as though to throw around and tease the thought of Neville and Ginny dating. Luna could see it happening, after all the two were very close and wrote more letters to each other than Luna and Ginny wrote for each other.

Neville blushed bright red and nodded his head sheepishly, "yeah, she wouldn't pick something horrible like Gran would do. Gran always gives me the ugliest hats we have at home."

"That sucks, mate," Harry responded as he remembered his own times in the past with hand-me-downs. There was no way that his aunt and uncle would even consider getting him new clothes when he was growing up. He still couldn't believe that Luna had given him Sirius's old jacket (when Sirius found out that Luna had given him the jacket he was perplexed but eagerly allowed Harry to keep the jacket).

"How is Ginny?" one girl probed in the background, causing the four teenagers to glance over at the sixth year Gryffindor that ended up taking Harry's position as the Seeker. Her name was Audhild Dullum—she had been born in Norway and lived there for a few years before moving to Liverpool.

She was small, quite smaller than a normal sixth year girl, with short purple hair that was in a Mohawk (the teachers didn't like it but no matter what Audhild always had her hair this way—even Professor Dumbledore said he liked it, the hairstyle reminded Luna of her cousin), and a loud voice. She was quite interesting and Harry had said that she was a great Seeker.

"Oh, she's doing fine," Neville told her and Audhild nodded her head before motioning the fifth year over to her so that she could help Neville with some of his homework. Audhild had always helped with homework for other students but didn't have much time with taking Harry's position on the team.

Luna turned her head back to her two friends and smiled dreamily, "I quite like her, and she reminds me of Dora. I have a feeling that the two of them would get along with each other quite well."

Behind them they heard the study group that Audhild had gotten together start and it made Luna feel warmth wash through her. She liked seeing other students in other Houses care about their own House when it came to academics. Ravenclaws treasured and kept academics close to them but when they saw other Houses doing the same it made them even happier to know that there were some students out there that cared about their grades.

"I'd like to see what would happen if she was stuck with Malfoy," Harry admitted and both Luna and Hermione giggled at the thought of Luna's high strung misunderstood cousin being stuck in a room with silver tongued Audhild—who might be smaller and tinier than normal but could obviously stand on her own two feet without having to have someone help her.

"Anyway, I just wrote to Rita and I know that she's not going to be happy but she has to do what I asked her to do," Hermione quietly informed them and both teenagers let her know that they knew what she was talking about—from Hermione finding out that Rita Skeeter was an unregistered Animagus (it was a animal that a wizard or witch could turn into but it was rare and you had to be registered with the Ministry, something that both Rita and Sirius along with Peter, and James didn't do), and that the Animagus was a beetle.

Hermione ended up catching the reporter; the said reporter basically got fired, and now was being blackmailed by Hermione—she had to write nothing but the truth for a year and since the Daily Prophet liked to write only Anti-Harry articles it would make sense for her to have to write an article for Mr. Lovegood's newspaper, the Quibbler.

When the day came to Luna and Harry meeting up with Mr. Lovegood and Rita Skeeter it was apparent that Hermione was bummed about not going to the Three Broomsticks with her best friends. Of course if she could come they would have brought her with them but the less people there were the better it would turn out—especially since Mr. Lovegood wasn't that thrilled to see Harry again, he obviously did not care that much about the boy that basically was dating his daughter.

Mr. Lovegood was waiting outside of Three Broomsticks with his back against the bricks that made up the place—his whitish yellow hair falling to his shoulder blades and whipping from the strong winds around them. He looked nothing short of irritated and wore his usual eccentric robes of bright neon colors that needed to be toned down in everyone's opinion except for Luna's.

A few Aribta Comatti were floating around the three as Luna came up to her daddy and smiled widely at him, "hello, Daddy! I am so pleased to see you! I don't see any Nargles around you, or anything else except Aribta Comatti. How are you?"

Luna felt her daddy wrap his arms around her and hold her a moment longer, she had yet to tell him about the fact that he had married a Black or the fact that his daughter was the niece of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. She knew that she needed to tell him but she didn't know how to approach this—she didn't want to lose her daddy over something like this, or have him hate her mum because of the fact that she was born with the blood she was given.

"Hello, my Aribta Comatti, I am doing fine. How are you? Is _he _treating you well?" Xenophilius looked over at Harry and found the tall and lanky boy with large glasses and feathery raven hair peering at him with hesitance but with respect. The man could not imagine why his daughter had to fall in love with the boy, the boy that was linked to You-Know-Who! Why couldn't his daughter have fallen in love with someone else, even Neville Longbottom?

Then again Neville Longbottom was interested in Ginevra Weasley, he had heard from Mrs. Weasley when they had run into each other at Diagon a few weeks ago that Ginny had struck a fancy to Neville Longbottom—she had giggled and although it wasn't Harry Potter that the woman's daughter loved, the Longbottom family was still closely connected with the Weasley clan.

They even were in The Order together, something that Xenophilius still did not regret to this day when it came to having his wife stay away from it. He knew that he had done the right thing with making sure that his wife would have nothing to do with The Order—if she died sooner than she did he would have been in worse state.

Now though, he was tired and he was weary but he was excited at the prospect of having there being more subscribers to The Quibbler. He wasn't excited to see Rita Skeeter again—when he had heard that she had been fired from her job he had been relieved and happy that the horrid newspaper had one less journalist.

"I'm doing fine, Daddy. Harry is treating me perfectly, he is wonderful and loves me," Luna responded and watched as her daddy gave a nod before the three of them entered the establishment and found the fired journalist sitting in the back, at a wooden booth that was further than the others.

Rita Skeeter had seen better days, her hair was messy and tangled and if her stress was any worse she would have had pieces of her hair falling out from the stress. Some of her jewels on her glasses were gone, and her fingernails were chipped. She was scowling at anyone that came near her—knowing that she was being pulled into the public eye once more and she didn't want to be here to begin with.

When they had sat down across from the woman it was apparent that she wanted to get up from her spot and walk away with her head tilted high and act as though she hadn't left her workplace with her tail behind her legs. Still she sat there and listened to them, laughed when they told her what they wanted her to do, and then stopped abruptly when she realized that what they had just said was true.

"Fine! I'll do the article! That irritating girl, ugh," Rita Skeeter grumbled as she remembered Hermione and being trapped in a jar while in her beetle form the whole summer—along with Hermione telling her that she would regret everything that she was if she thought she could double cross them.

Luna smiled as she leant her head against the side of Harry's arm and listened to him tell what had happened, word for word. In the corner of her eye she could see that her daddy had stiffened and that he almost looked as though he was going to pass out when he heard about Voldemort appearing out of the cauldron—along with stealing some of Harry's blood so that he could be able to touch him.

Rita listened intently as Harry told the story and she almost looked as though she was starting to look more alive than before. It was also apparent that it had been a long time since she had been able to do her passion and although she was doing it in a way that she didn't care to do so she still liked the fact that she was able to write an article at all for the time being.

When all was said and done and the article was published with the newest edition of The Quibbler out for all to read things changed rapidly, and it seemed as though everyone now believed that what had happened between Harry and Cedric Diggory had happened and they were scared at the thought of Voldemort coming for them—though others that had known from the beginning still did shiver at the memory of Harry telling them what had happened and the sight of Cedric Diggory's corpse being pulled out of the maze and held by Harry Potter.

Everyone was either in possession with an issue from The Quibbler or trying to get one, and before long Professor Umbridge was having a new decree nailed into the main walls in the Common Rooms and near the Great Hall claiming that the Quibbler was not allowed on school grounds and that anyone who was in possession of it should hand them over to her so that they could be disposed properly—or else she would make sure that anyone who was found with the magazine would be expelled.

Of course that didn't stop the actual student body from creating charms that made them look like they were reading anything but The Quibbler. Luna was nothing more than beyond elated at the knowledge that her daddy's magazine had helped Harry prove that what he had told was the truth!

For once something that directly came from her and her daddy and proved that what the Ministry said was nothing but lies was believed.


	59. Seer's Downfall

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**59:**_ Seer's Downfall_

** It seemed **as though life had started to be normal once again at Hogwarts, well as normal as it could be with Dolores Umbridge walking down the corridors and thinking that she was Headmistress—prepared to be given the role so that she could finally find a way for her to expel Harry, and Luna as well.

Heck Hermione probably would have gone with them, despite the fact that she would end up leaving Hogwarts.

Knowing Hermione though, Luna imagined that the girl would end up finding a retired professor to come to her house to teach her magic or she would end up going to another school all entirely—possibly Beauxbaton, then again Hermione probably wouldn't go that far into France to get an education.

Classes with Professor Umbridge were the same. She made them read from the textbook and write down notes so that every three weeks they could have a mini exam about what they were being taught, and Luna would pass with flying colors despite the fact that Professor Umbridge really wanted to fail her. Harry passed with an average grade in the class; it was obvious that Harry wasn't a textbook kind of student.

Luna was heading to her Transfiguration class when she heard the sound of someone screaming, enough that she straightened up her back and realized that she knew that voice. It was Sybil Trelawney, her favorite professor she had at Hogwarts.

Hurrying towards the Great Hall, since that was where she heard the woman scream, Luna skidded into the front foyer of the school to find that a mass of students were surrounding the tall and lanky insect looking woman that had tears flowing down her large eyes. She was trying to wipe away the tears that were falling and her glasses couldn't stand her rubbing at her eyes—they fell down on the ground and she soon followed after them.

Luna began to hurry forward, so that she could push some of the students away. A few of them gave her the stink eye and others moved out of the way wordlessly when they realized that it was Luna Lovegood that was trying to get through the crowd. They knew how much the Seer meant for the strange girl.

"You can't kick me out! Hogwarts is my home!" Professor Trelawney cried as she looked for her glasses and her suitcases were in front of her. Luna couldn't help but rush forward and fall on her knees in front of the woman.

"That is where you are wrong, my dear. I am allowed to terminate staff if they are not up to Ministry code. You are nothing more than a fraud and have only been allowed here because Professor Dumbledore decided that you should stay here, despite the fact that you are no true Seer. Since you are not a true Seer I must ask for you to leave, pick yourself up and go away. You're just embarrassing yourself," Professor Umbridge calmly responded as she smoothed down her dress suit.

The hurry clicking of high heels reverberated in the background and before long students were moving quickly away, faster than they did with Luna. It was obviously because it was a professor that was heading forward and from the sight of a stern looking Professor McGonagall it was apparent that there was no doubt that everyone would scurry away when she was in a hurry.

"Dolores, what is the meaning of this? Why is Sybil on the floor with her bags? You did not do what I think you did, did you? No, wait, never mind, I know that you would do that you horrible….ugh," Professor McGonagall seethed as she glared down at the squat woman that still looked as though she was a cat that had eaten the best canary that was ever made.

"Oh, I was just letting this fraud of a Seer know that she has been terminated. She has been stripped of her teaching position, which is a silly class to begin with. I am certain that if I talk to Minster Fudge that he could possibly rid the class completely," Professor Umbridge responded as Luna wrapped her arms around the tall and wiry woman that was still on the stone floor.

Sybil was crying still, profusely, and Luna kept her arms around the woman as though she was shielding the woman from Professor Umbridge completely—so that she would never have to see the horrid woman again.

"You have no authority whatsoever, I can assure you this! When Albus hears about this—"

"I most certainly have heard of what has happened to Sybil. I will say this Dolores; you may be able to fire staff, a power that which I feel as though you shall never have been given. No one should be so eager to fire someone from their staff, nor should someone be degrading the person while doing so. Sybil is a wonderful woman and she is a Seer, whether or not you believe she is and she is no fraud. She has gifted me with proof of her abilities—so I know without a doubt that she is a Seer.

"I also know without a doubt that while you are allowed to fire the staff now, you have no jurisdiction whatsoever in removing them from the school completely. That is in the hands of the current Headmaster or Headmistress."

Professor Dumbledore moved forward with a hardened glint in his eyes towards the short and toad like woman that had her arms folded against her chest and a murderous glint in her own eyes as though she was waiting for him to say one more thing and then she would lunge forward to throttle the man—no she was standing there and was ready for the moment that she would feel this so that she could go running to the Ministry and tell Minister Fudge so that he could do something.

He crouched down in front of Sybil and Luna, his eyes landing on Sybil first. "Sybil, I am here to tell you that you are not being taken away from Hogwarts, I am sorry my dear to tell you that you have lost your job. I am not going to tell you that you will have to leave Hogwarts. Hogwarts will always be your home, I can assure you this."

Sybil slowly brought her head up and looked up at the headmaster that had given her a home when things weren't so great for her. She traveled from city to city, town to town, so that she could earn money and food for what she had done. No one truly believed in her but they pitied her and allowed her to stay with them or give her money so that she could stay somewhere else.

"Thank you, A-Albus."

She slowly got up from the ground when Professor Dumbledore brought out his hands so that she could put hers in his. He got her to stand up completely and then he turned his head directly towards Dolores Umbridge. The professor kept her chin upwards and she had only slight fear to the most powerful wizard that she had ever known.

He turned his head towards Luna once more, "I ask of you, Miss Lovegood, to take Ms. Trelawney to her quarters. Professor McGonagall will be there and will take over once you take her there."

Luna nodded her head before she put her hand into one of Sybil's hands and softly pulled her towards the front doors of the school. Professor McGonagall simply levitated the ex-professor's trunks and followed quietly, wordlessly, behind the strange girl and the strange professor.

Harry had gone to step forward so that he could follow after them, only for Hermione to reach her hand out and touch Harry's shoulder. He turned his head towards his best friend and saw that she shook her head, "No, Harry. I feel as though this time Luna needs to do this alone. I know that you are used to helping her but for her this is what it was like when Professor Lupin had to leave to you."

Harry remembered the pain and hatred and anger that came when he knew that the man that was friends, best friends, with his dad and knew him throughout the years at Hogwarts had to leave just because he was a werewolf.

He felt nothing more than anger towards Professor Dumbledore, despite the fact that the man couldn't do anything that would help—he had done already as much as he could for Professor Lupin when Remus was nothing more than a student at Hogwarts and Professor Dumbledore had Professor Sprout plant the Whomping Willow.

"All right, I understand what she must be feeling. She does need this time alone, even though I really want to be there for her."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her best friend as she shook her head before she responded, "of course, she trusts you. If she didn't trust you then she wouldn't be Luna Lovegood. She doesn't trust that much, but when she does she trusts you with her whole heart. It just happens that she gave her heart to you so she trusts you the most. Remember that, Harry."

"I will."

The walk to the Divination tower was silent and Luna kept her arm around the beloved professor that made her feel understood at Hogwarts. There were other students at Hogwarts that loved Sybil Trelawney but no one else had the ability to see creatures that no one else but Luna could. That or they were not open towards telling anyone about them being able to see the same creatures that Luna saw.

Professor McGonagall's heels were muted by the grass terrain as they made their way across the campus. By now all the portraits in the school knew of what had happened when it came to Professor Trelawney, but Sybil would be too depressed to even be able to hear the whispers that were echoing throughout the corridors.

When they arrived at the tower they entered and continued towards the top floor of the tower was—where there also was a golden ladder that could come down whenever a class ended or Professor Trelawney was near enough to the ladder that it would sense her magic and come down for her without her even having to lift her wand.

Reaching the ladder, Luna slowly pulled away from the tall and wiry woman—allowing Professor McGonagall to step forward, "Sybil, my dear, we're at your tower. Please go up the ladder, once you're there you can sit and let it all out. I will make sure that no one will come and bother you."

"O-oh, yes, thank you. Maybe later you can allow those lovely girls in your House up here, Lavender and Parvati. They are such lovely girls," Sybil finally stated and Professor McGonagall paused once more—evaluated what the Seer had said before she nodded her head.

"Very well, I will see if you are well enough later. If so they can come and visit you, only for an hour though."

Professor McGonagall and Luna watched as the Seer headed up the ladder and once she was at the top and in her actual classroom Luna paused for a moment, waiting to see if Professor McGonagall was going to tell her that she needed to head back to her friends or to Professor Flitwick.

"You may come up and be with her for a short time. I'm going up to the infirmary, I am certain that I will have to get some calming potions for her," Professor McGonagall decided and Luna nodded her head before quietly thanking her—without the woman knowing an Aribta Comatti was drifting after the tall and stern looking woman, as though letting Luna know that they were looking after the professor for Luna.

Heading up the ladder, Luna appeared in the circular curtain closed contained room with all amount of upholstery that was covered in mustiness. The incense sticks that were in their glass bottles were lit—creating little puffs of smoke were still as strong as ever. The little wooden tables were still there with the crystal balls and the china cabinet set off to the side still held all of her precious porcelain tea cups.

Sitting in a large deep purple Victorian Era chair with a galaxy purplish-pink theme hue afghan blanket thrown on the top of the back of the chair, Sybil Trelawney was hurdled together and she was shaking as though she had been submerged into ten feet's worth of pure Alaskan winter lake water.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" Luna quietly asked the woman and watched as the woman almost jumped completely out of her skin before she realized that Luna was actually in the room and that she hadn't imagined the strange girl that could see creatures that even she couldn't see but had a feeling were real (call her odd but Sybil might not be sensitive enough to see their presence but she could at least feel their aura).

"Y-yes dear, that would be nice," Sybil finally said and Luna smiled softer at the woman before she turned around and entered the private quarters that the woman had. There was a tiny kitchen and a large gypsy curtained bed that looked as though it had come from an actual gypsy's caravan.

Luna fell in love with the satin curtains that were around the bed in a canopy way, with little pure jewels sewn into the curtains and on the pillows. An array of different patchwork quilts covered the mattress and a decorative bench sat in front of the bed—the same color as the deep purple of the curtains.

Luna made her way over to the kitchen area and began to make the tea that would hopefully make Sybil feel more soothed before Professor McGonagall would come up the ladder and give her some potions that were meant to calm the woman down.

Once she was done with the tea—Luna tapped on the side of the hot tea cup and felt the temperature lower to where it was still pretty hot but it wasn't hot enough that it would burn the drinker's throat or their hands. She sat it down on a tea tray and picked up the silver tray before heading out of her ex-professor's quarters to the said ex-professor still sitting in her chair.

Reaching the woman Luna sat the tray down on the end table that was next to the chair and asked how many cubes of sugar that the Seer would want in the tea.

"Oh, only two, thank you," Sybil managed to say as she tried to calm her breathing again—every time she thought of that horrid wrenched woman she felt her heart race and she couldn't breathe that well.

Luna put two sugar cubes into the tea before she stirred the tea and let the sugar dissolve in the tea before she handed it to the woman.

Pulling a chair that sat off to the side over to the ex-professor, Luna sat down in the chair after it was close to the Seer and leant back against the chair.


	60. Marietta's Deception

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**60:**_ Marietta's Deception_

** Luna had wondered **what her Patronus was going to be, she knew that everyone else was excited to learn what their Patronus was going to be. Harry sighed though and told them that not everyone would be able to make a Patronus—some people simply did not have happy memories and Luna knew without a doubt that her cousin was one of those people. She knew in her heart that Draco would probably not be able to create a Patronus—he never had a happy life.

Luna didn't have one true happy memory in her mind but different flickers of Harry giving her forehead kisses muddled together and as soon as she had cried out, "Expecto Patronum," she had been greeted with her Patronus shooting out from the end of her wand and appearing as a rabbit.

Harry's Patronus was circulating the room every now and then, but when it passed by Luna's Patronus the deer ducked his head down and Luna's rabbit rose on its hind legs and pawed at the deer's face. Luna giggled some and looked up at her Harry, seeing that he was chuckling and some of the girls and boys stopped their attempts to see the interaction that each Patronus had towards the other.

As soon as the misty shaped animals disappeared they felt prickles on the back of their necks—their hair sticking up and Luna headed straight over to Harry before she stood next to him—their eyes landed on the door and before they could truly look over at Hermione and ask her if she felt what they felt the converted classroom door opened and Professor Umbridge came within the room along with a large amount of Slytherins (Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle).

"Well what do we have here?" Professor Umbridge probed as she craned her head to the side, her teeth revealing themselves in a murderous glint that let them know that she was beyond pleased with the fact that she finally had something that could possibly get them all expelled.

"Filch, guard the door. I think that we should gather up Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Miss Lovegood. I have a feeling that they were the ringleaders; maybe we can finally have them expelled! Oh, what wonderful news that would be," Professor Umbridge added as she clasped her hands together—her eyes wandering over the other students that were around her, there were quite a lot of students.

"As for all of you, I will think of what to do with you later. Mr. Malfoy, Miss Parkinson, and Miss Bulstrode, please go and bring Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, and Miss Lovegood to me. We should go and visit Professor Dumbledore," Professor Umbridge commanded and all three fifth years headed forward before they hooked the arms of the two Gryffindor's and one Ravenclaw behind their backs.

Professor Umbridge smoothed down her clothes, making sure that all her winkles were gone so that she would look her best. She ushered Filch away and the creepy caretaker moved out of the way—happy still at the thought of being able to consult with the woman about what kind of punishments he would have with these students! Oh how many they were, it had been too long since these irritating children were hanging by their ankles upside down with ankle iron brackets.

Luna stayed still as she felt Pansy Parkinson tighten her grip on her arms. For a moment she wondered if Pansy knew that she was Draco's cousin. Or maybe she saw them in an alcove and thought that they were dating, Pansy would be in a big surprise when she would find out that the two were cousins and not secretly a boyfriend and girlfriend.

Then again Pansy might have been just harsher with her because of the fact that she was basically in a relationship with Harry and anyone who would give the time of day for Harry, much less want to date him deserved the full punishment that could be provided for them.

Hermione on the other hand was glancing around, as though she was checking to make sure if she could find the person that had told on them. She had told Luna that she had enchanted the list that if anyone told on the club that they would a jinx put on the person so that their face would spell out sneak in purple blemishes.

She had told Luna about the clever charm and Luna didn't know how to feel about the charm. She did like how the person would learn to not do something like that ever again but she wondered how strong the charm would be and if that person would have those blemishes on their face for the rest of their life.

Some charms were too strong to be taken away and Hermione was considered the brightest witch.

Luna was ushered outside of the Room of Requirement and was yanked forward so that she could follow after Professor Umbridge. She stood in front of them as though she was a victorious leader that had captured communists and she did want nothing more than the ultimate punishment available for them to have. The punishment would be expulsion and it was the best thing that would happen for Professor Umbridge when it came to her time here at Hogwarts.

Portraits around them glared at Professor Umbridge with nothing more than complete distaste and anger. It was apparent that even the paint oiled occupants of the school did not want here either.

When they arrived at the staircase with the gargoyles Luna glanced over to where Harry was and he was looking nothing more than angered while Hermione was nothing more than calm. It was almost as though she was just having a stroll around the school and before long she would go back to her Common Room.

Luna let her eyes wander back towards Professor Umbridge as she said the password that led up to the headmaster's office. Professor Umbridge headed up the stairs and Luna was soon pushed forward so that she couldn't stop and go somewhere else. She could feel the blood in her arms beginning to get bad circulation and inwardly knew that Draco would be livid if he found out that Pansy had bruised his cousin.

Heading up the stairs, Luna watched as Professor Umbridge automatically opened the door without knocking, barging into the room with a pleased smirk on her lips. Luna knew that the woman was glancing around the room so that she could see what she would do the room after she was given the position of Headmistress.

"Ah, Dolores—"

"Do you remember my decree that I had written that talks about there not being any organized groups without my permission?" Dolores Umbridge interrupted and Luna glanced over at Hermione, who was studying the professor and the headmaster as they looked each other.

"Of course, but that does not explain why three students are in here. I also want to know why they are being held like that when that kind of brutality is not permitted within my school or in my office," Professor Dumbledore commented slowly, his eyes landing on the three Slytherins.

Luna felt Pansy's hands drop from her and she reached forward to rub onto her arms, finding that there were really bruises that were on her arms. She noted in the corner of her eye that Draco looked angry and that he shot Pansy a livid look that let her know that she shouldn't have done that.

"I have been told by a wonderful student that a group has been created that goes against the Ministry, because it has over gone my permission. These students were using the Room of Requirement to have a club, which is named **_Dumbledore's Army_**, that has them practicing unauthorized spells—defense spells may I remind you."

Behind them they could hear knocking and Professor Umbridge continued to smirk as the door opened and Professor McGonagall came in, along with Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Percy Weasley. Luna could note that a student was behind them and Professor McGonagall looked as though she wanted to attack the Head Inquisitor—especially when she noted that Luna had bruises on her arms.

"Albus, what is going on? And why does Miss Lovegood have bruises on her arms?" Professor McGonagall snapped her head in the direction of Professor Umbridge, as though she was waiting for the moment that the horrid woman confessed that she had physically manhandled a student.

"Dolores here was just telling me that there was an unauthorized group that was under her nose, which was a group of students practicing defense spells. I have also been told that they named the group, Dumbledore's Army. I, myself, though did not tell them to create the group," Professor Dumbledore explained.

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat very harshly and shot them glares that would have made anyone else tremble if it were not Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore that she was giving the glares to. In fact Minerva made her way towards Luna and quietly asked her if she was all right.

"I am fine, professor," she quietly responded as they were welcomed with Professor Umbridge demanding that the student that had rightfully told her about the club to step forward.

Luna was greeted with Marietta Edgecombe stepping forward with her robes pulled up so that she was hiding her face. Hermione snickered and shot a smug look towards the girl, as though she was glad that the girl was ashamed and that she deserved this to happen to her.

Professor Umbridge sweetly spoke, "this model student, Marietta Edgecombe, has come forward to tell me about this horrid organization that I know you had something to do with. I ask for Miss Edgecombe to take her robes away from her face and show what these horrid students did to her for sticking up for the Ministry."

Marietta took steps backwards and vividly shook her head, trembling at the thought of having the people around her see what had happened to her. Her knuckles were as white as ever and they could see her bones straining, it was apparent that she wasn't going to show them the blemishes on her face that said that she was a sneak.

Harry made his way over to Luna and held her hand.

Behind them Professor McGonagall put her hands on their shoulders and kept them near her as though she was protecting her cubs. Hermione made her way over quietly and stayed next to them though she stood next to Professor McGonagall—she didn't allow the woman to put her arm on her too.

As Professor Umbridge yanked at Marietta's robes, it didn't take long for the robes to be yanked away and show her blemishes. Kingsley Shacklebolt had to clear his throat to keep from chuckling at the sight that he had been greeted with; he had without a doubt that it was Hermione that had done this instead of Luna. Luna wouldn't do something that bad to the girl.

"Please explain to these wonderful Ministry officials about your experiences within this club. I am certain that your mother will be very glad and proud of you for doing this. If you did not know Madam Edgecombe is in charge with the Department of Magical Transportation."

Marietta shifted to and fro before she began to speak, "I was there….when they created the club….Harry is the ringleader…" She was talking slowly and she didn't seem like she wanted to explain anything—she squeaked and Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Kingsley Shacklebolt did a memory charm on the girl to make sure that she would stumble on her story, enough that the other officials were confused.

"Well then, it seems as though Miss Edgecombe must have been mistaken. It seems as though she thought that this club existed," Professor Dumbledore told them and the two Aurors—Dawlish and Shacklebolt waited for what Professor Umbridge to give her final call on this.

"I demand that Professor Dumbledore to step down from being Headmaster! I think that a more respectful and Ministry approved **Headmaster **or **Headmistress** to be given the slot!"

Kingsley sighed and spoke, "I think that the best thing would be to take Professor Dumbledore to the Ministry so that we can interview him and get the truth from him. If what has happened is true then I know that the Minister will make sure to have him replaced with a more respectful and official Headmaster or Headmistress."

Professor McGonagall chimed in, "I will reassure you that he has done nothing that should relieve him of his position of the headmaster of this school. Albus Dumbledore is one of the best headmasters that this school has ever had and for you to—"

"Please Minerva, even if you are against what they want to do you must respect their decision," Professor Dumbledore explained as he put his hand up and put his palm to her. She went to speak only for him to give her a stern look and she sighed before she kept her hold on the two students in front of her.

"Well said, professor. Now I believe that we should go down to the Ministry to have this sorted out." Professor Umbridge turned her head towards the office door as though expecting for Professor Dumbledore to come and allow himself to be taken to the Ministry.

Instead they were greeted with Professor Dumbledore, "I believe that I will not be able to fit going down to the Ministry on my schedule."

Luna couldn't keep up with what happened—all she knew was that there were spells that were being cast by Kingsley Shacklebolt and Dawlish. Professor Umbridge looked like she was keeping all of her strength to not shoot out a spell at Professor Dumbledore and act as though Kingsley Shacklebolt or Dawlish had been the one who had shot the spell, not her.

One moment they were casting their spells and the next moment a flash of bright light appeared before Professor Dumbledore in front their very eyes.

Professor Umbridge let out a loud shriek of anger.


	61. rise of Umbridge

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**61:**_ rise of Umbridge_

**Dolores Umbridge **got what she wanted.

She soon became the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. She reminded Luna of Queen Mary the first of England (not of Scots—like her cousin); due to the fact that she was pushing the Ministry onto the students and that anyone who would go against her would end up being expelled eventually.

Professor McGonagall often sat there at her seat in the Great Hall and tried not to glare at the woman. Luna knew that it was killing the Head of Gryffindor to have to see that horrid woman sitting in Professor Dumbledore's chair. She also somewhat did not like Albus at the moment either—she couldn't believe that the loon would end up abandoning the school like he did.

Then again this was something that Albus Dumbledore would do.

Luna also was welcomed with Professor Umbridge creating an Inquisitorial Squad that was made with only Slytherin students and obviously Draco would be on the squad. Luna expected nothing less than her older cousin. She knew that he wouldn't come to her, no matter what, though she knew that he had wished that his mum did not have to be in the eye of Voldemort or be married to a newly abusive husband that used to love her but was now drinking and following Voldemort's every command.

To make matters worse for her uncle, Voldemort held his precious Bellatrix up on a pedestal and she eagerly did what he had asked. After all, she had tortured Neville Longbottom's parents into insanity—they were currently residents of St. Mungo's and had been since they had been tortured.

Ginny had written a letter and sent it to Luna, which told her that she had gone to St. Mungo's with Neville one weekend (Neville went to visit his parents at least one time each semester) and had officially met both Frank and Alice.

Of course they were pitiful in their hospital gowns but still loved their son dearly.

Now though, Luna knew that things here at Hogwarts were going to get really irritating, very fast for the students. Fred and George Weasley had upped the ante when it came to their pranks and had come up with an invention called: Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs. Students were secretly buying the fireworks that the twins had made, though some of the students had their fireworks taken away.

With Professor Umbridge on the loose though all of the brothers' faithful customers never told the woman where they had gotten the actual fireworks. Professor Umbridge knew that it was probably the twins but she didn't have any proof that it was them that were creating these fireworks and other trademark items that they created for pranksters of all ages.

Mr. Filch was nothing more than ecstatic that he could punish the students just how he liked and Professor Umbridge would not flutter an eyelash towards them. Unlike Professor Dumbledore, she liked when the children were scared and she was eager too to give the students punishments.

Luna often was greeted with scorching glares that would always be directed towards her, Harry and Hermione. Mandy sometimes got the glares but not as much as her friends, though Mandy was the one who degraded the woman the most.

Now though, Luna was sitting outside under the tree that she often sat under with her friends, reading another one of the books that Ginny would send to her that she would sneak from her dad's Muggle collection.

She had already had her exams done, but with her friends being fifth years they were doing practice exams for the O. , mainly because Professor Umbridge demanded that they do more tests to make sure that the students would end up having better scores than Beauxbaton or Dumstrang .

Luna knew that Hermione would breeze through it easily and that Harry would been having a little more difficult time than he normally did, it was apparent that her Harry did not like exams or tests and she knew that there were those out there that dealt with those problems too.

Mandy would be doing all right, she would not know maybe one or two answers but that was about it, she would do amazingly.

Though he was not their friend anymore, Luna knew that Ronald (she had now just called him Ronald, there was no reason for her to call him Ron) Weasley would be having the hardest time than anyone else. He would probably not be able to answer the questions that he probably could be able to answer if he was still friends with Hermione and she helped him study.

There were other students that were wandering the campus, these were ones that were already done with their exams but obviously weren't in the fifth year. She also knew that the seventh years were taking their practice N.E.W.T.s that Professor Umbridge forced onto them too—in fact Luna had heard that their exams were longer and more detailed than the fifth years' practice exam, and Luna knew that they would probably go up to their dorms so that they could take a long nap and then wonder if they were going to get to do what they wanted to do.

Luna had not seen Draco in months and it saddened the girl. She did not receive even letters from him though she had been surprised when she had received an envelope from her aunt that had been a beautiful silver necklace with a stunning sapphire that dropped in the middle of the necklace.

To say the least when Luna saw the necklace she sat there and cried, wondering she couldn't do anything for her aunt and cousin. She obviously could see that her aunt loved her, even when she could not see her and be with her—she still loved her through and through and this necklace let her know that she still wanted to let Luna know that she would love her for who she was.

Luna put it into her chest, putting it into one of her random jewelry boxes that wasn't currently filled with any of her mum's necklaces and earrings and other pieces of jewelry that her mum had owned.

The sky was beautiful, a stunning blue and Luna smiled as she leant back against the trunk of the tree and peered around her. She could hear splashing from the students that were at the Black Lake.

Luna stiffened at the sight of the lake; she used to love that lake. She had swum in that lake in the middle of winter and yet when she had been drugged by Professor Dumbledore and was rescued by Harry during the second task Luna had come to fear the lake. She did not want to enter the lake again, in fear that she would not come out of it once more.

She hadn't expected though to see a student running towards her, wearing just their normal everyday clothes. They looked as though they were a third year and they rushed as fast as they could, though Luna could tell that the boy did not exercise or run this fast and long before.

Luna straightened up and put her book into her satchel just as the boy reached her. He caught his breath before he spoke, "Harry Potter says that he is finished with his practice exam. He'll be taking a nap, just so you know."

Luna smiled as she stood up and smoothed down her clothes. She wore a flow like white dress with a small v-neckline along with sleeves that went past her fingers. Her dress touched the grass and she wore brown sandals. She had her pair pulled back on the top with Mandy's hairpin that she had given her pulling her hair back.

"Thank you, that is very kind of you. How has your day been?" Luna craned her head to the side and the boy blinked a few times—Luna Lovegood looked as though she was an ethereal elf standing underneath one of her many trees that she would visit whenever she would fancy a walk.

"It is fine…Miss Lovegood."

Luna smiled and shook her head, "please, do not call me Miss Lovegood. You may call me Luna if you wish." The boy blinked once more and then blushed, Luna Lovegood was very pretty and he could see what it was that would catch the eye of Harry Potter. They looked like complete opposites.

The boy stuttered out a goodbye before he rushed away.

Luna grabbed her satchel and put it on her shoulder before she turned her head, finding that Pansy Parkinson stood off in the distance, in one of the open corridors that were around the school. She seethed at the girl, her eyes dark and malicious and Luna had a feeling in her gut that the fifth year knew that Luna was Draco's cousin—if she did then Luna knew that it would only be so long before she would approach Luna, though she would probably not tell anyone that she was Draco's cousin because then Draco would have his blood mocked at.

Making her way forward, Luna kept her chin upwards and did not dare to look at the unattractive girl with the scrunched up features and bob haircut. She had not grown into her looks, she still had harsh and large features that made her look like the old aristocratic bride that would marry a little later than her sisters for she had been picked last because of her bad looks.

"Hello, Pansy," Luna greeted her as she reached the girl and smiled at her. Pansy twitched her eye and spoke, "I know what you are, who you are. I can't believe that you are—"

"I love Draco, for I know his faults and I know that he is not truly good but he is my cousin and he is misunderstood and he had his chance stolen when he was raised in your society. I know that you only like him for lust and that you wish to be the one to marry him for you know that if you married Draco you would finally be at the top," Luna quietly told her.

Pansy reached her hand up, and Luna waited for the moment that Pansy would slap her across her face. She should have known that Draco would follow her—he must have known that Pansy was going to try and face Luna but when Pansy felt a hand reach out and yank it down, casing her to gasp from the pain; she looked up and saw that the boy she loved was peering at her with hatred.

"Do not even fucking think about hurting my cousin because I will make sure to ruin you and everything that you are," Draco seethed at the girl and tightened his grip on the shorter girl's wrist—enough that Pansy whimpered and felt the love that she had for Draco wither away. She never thought that Draco would hold her like this; she never thought that Draco would have this hatred towards her.

Luna did not say anything, and Pansy nodded her head rapidly before Draco let his hand fall from the girl's wrist. Pansy shot him a fearful look over her shoulder when she went to ran and then booked it—wanting nothing more than to go to her dorm and cry as her heart shattered at the knowledge that Draco was cruel, that he would make sure that nothing harmed his cousin and that she was nothing compared to his precious Ravenclaw cousin.

Draco turned to look at her and check her over when Luna spoke, "She will tell them all that I am your cousin. We know of her lineage and how the Parkinsons can never be trusted. She will out us, Draco."

Draco reached out and touched her face, having a determined look upon his face, "I don't care, and I love you too much to allow anyone to lay a finger on you. You have done so much for me, it is about time I start repaying you."

Luna sighed and allowed him to hold her, the two cousins embracing each other as they knew that things were changing and that it would come out that she was related to Draco Malfoy and that she was the daughter of a Black.

She didn't want to stay with the Ravens tonight; she wanted to be with the lions and the lionesses. She appreciated her Ravens, that much she knew—Cho was still as loving and sweet as ever to her (there was no guilt that the young woman had towards Harry, despite there being a sliver of it in the beginning of Cedric's death), and Mandy was still like an older sister to her.

Tonight though, Luna sat on the comfy sofa and peered at the flickering flames in front of her. Her quilt was draped over her and she was in a pair of satin pajamas that Mandy had given her (she had excitedly given the present to her during breakfast one morning during mail and Luna was welcomed with matching pajama sets for the both of them), along with fluffy white bunny slippers.

She felt warmth and happiness at the lions and lionesses that flocked to her side and sat down in the chairs or sat near her feet and were conversing with each other. They didn't have to converse with her and though it was apparent that she could jump in at any time and voice her own opinion she didn't do so.

It was late though, and Luna knew that Harry was at his Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape. She knew from the beginning, there were no secrets between her and Harry, not since she had told him about her being Draco's cousin.

Having had told him that she was related to him, Harry knew that with her telling him her darkest and hardest secret that he needed to be open and tell her things—he had no secrets that he kept from her.

She knew how terrified Harry was when he had his vision last year of Nagini (Voldemort's snake) striking Mr. Weasley, and she was certain that there would be more visions in the future.

With Voldemort completely back it made sense that his connection with Harry was stronger and that Harry could get glimpses of things that were happening or thought of by Voldemort.

She was about to bend down and look through her satchel to bring out her crocheting needles and yarn to start making sweaters and shirts. She could always make early birthday presents for friends; there was never a time to not do so.

She only stopped when she heard the Fat Lady open and Harry came in, troubled. She sat her needles off to the side and opened up her arms—moving so that she was looking completely at him. She motioned for him to come and it didn't take long for Harry to reach her and throw himself in her arms.

He did not cry, he was silent and Luna ran her fingers through his hair and waited patiently for him to speak.

"I….I saw Snape's memories in the Pensive…." Harry quietly confessed and she let him know that she had heard him when she made an encouraging hum. "I know that we said that we should tell each other everything but Snape asked me to keep—"

"I love you, Harry. I respect you; I know that you know these things. There are things that if someone asks us to not tell anyone else about it that should be respected. I find that it is admirable that you would want to keep the secret from me. I must ask you, if it has to do with your dad and Professor Snape, because I know that they were very mean to him, Mum was barely in Hogwarts when she saw how they acted to him."

"They were bullying him, humiliated him, Dad told Mum that he would leave him alone if she would go on a date with him. Then Snape called Mum a Mudblood and that was the end of their friendship. My dad was a jerk."

Luna was quiet and she nodded her head, "this is something that I feel you need to talk to Sirius and Remus about. Let them know how you are feeling."

Harry nodded his head, "all right. I think I'll do that soon."

Luna smiled as she reached over and kissed him on the cheek before she leant her forehead against his. They both took deep breaths and just soaked in the feeling of each other—knowing that they supported each other with everything that they were greeted with.


	62. career advice

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**62:**_ career advice_

** The day **came where fifth years had to go to the Heads of their Houses and tell them what career they had chosen so that they could get the appropriate classes to succeed and be able to start at said choice.

Hermione said that she wanted to work in the Ministry and despite Luna not caring for the place she could easily see her best friend working at said place. Besides when Hermione talked about wanting to change the wizarding world and had that dreamy look on her face Luna knew that it would be best to allow Hermione to dream what she was going to do for the rest of her life.

Luna had already said that she wanted to be a Magizoolgist, and no one else could see her doing any other job than that. She was enthusiastic at the knowledge that she would be able to travel the world and find the creatures that no one said existed.

She did know that she was going to leave her precious Aribta Comatti alone—they wanted their privacy and it was the least she could do for them allowing Harry to see them.

Harry hadn't told them what he had wanted to do; he said that he had wanted to surprise them. Luna had automatically thought of him wanting to be an Auror when he was younger but now he looked as though he was tired of violence and he just wanted there to be something that was more peaceful.

Luna supported her best friends' choices in their future careers because she knew that they supported her choice for the future.

Throughout the day she was watching as fifth years would enter the Heads' offices and tell them what they wanted to do.

Luna had no doubt in her mind that Professor Umbridge (she refused to call her Headmistress) was going to be in the same room as Harry when he would give them what he had wanted to do for the rest of his life.

It also meant that Professor Umbridge would degrade him and tell him that what he had wanted to do was meaningless and that he was worthless basically, and that the place that he was thinking of going to would never allow a traitor in it.

So Luna went into the courtyard and sat down at one of the benches that were around the said courtyard. She looked throughout her messenger bag and found her textbooks that she had for the classes that she had. She brought out some parchment paper and opened up her Herbology textbook so that she could look up the chapter that Professor Sprout had assigned them to read.

Luna always smiled whenever she would go and check on Neville some afternoons and remind him to come back inside. He would have his own area in the greenhouse that was for his plants and sometimes Professor Sprout would have the fifth year come up and show the students how to properly plant something or how to feed it and handle it.

In the distance she could hear the footsteps that echoed from the stone open corridors and paid no mind to them.

Pansy had yet to tell anyone that Luna and Draco were cousins but she knew that the blackmail material was hanging up above both cousins and within any moment it could shatter and reveal the truth.

It was strange though, Luna knew that Pansy usually didn't keep secrets and juicy stories from the public. She was known to not be trustworthy, unless it was for her fellow Slytherins yet Draco had basically told her that she was nothing to him and she could have something that could potentially ruin Draco and Luna.

"Hello Pansy," Luna commented idly as she began to write some of her notes before she glanced up and saw that Pansy was staring at her while she was a few feet away from her—her eyes glaring at Luna's.

Luna merely blinked and looked back down at her notes, "I am quite surprised that you haven't told anyone about Draco and me. He has broken your heart, has he not? Then again he is a fellow Slytherin and is your first love; it makes sense that you would be hesitant."

"You don't know anything about me," Pansy responded as she narrowed her eyes and studied Luna for a moment longer. "Now that I think about it though, you two do look related. You look just like his mother."

Luna softly addressed, "Aunt Narcissa is my mother's twin sister, and they are not identical but were very close in looks. I can assure you that a person does not have to look like they are related to someone to be related to them."

Luna closed her textbook and looked back up at Pansy, she thought that it was strange for the girl to be calm and that she wasn't being hateful to Luna. A part of Luna wondered if there was something that was up the girl's sleeve that was waiting to be revealed—she would not doubt it.

"Did…did he ever love me?"

Luna had gotten up when this question was asked, her eyes flickering over to where Pansy stood and saw that the girl really did want to know if Draco ever loved her.

Luna thought for a moment before she spoke, "I don't know, Pansy. To be honest you were very clingy to him. You were there for him, that much I know, but there times that I can tell you he would think you would be annoying.

"Draco and I don't talk about our love lives; we have no reason to do so. Draco knows that I love Harry, and he also knows that he's to marry Astoria Greengrass. It is the pureblood way."

Luna reached the girl and peered at her—finding that she was not attractive looking and that she was rude and she was mean and she would be hateful but for some odd reason she was not being that way to Luna. She did not know how or why she would do this. Maybe she realized that if she was nicer to Luna then maybe possibly Draco would come to love her in the end.

"If you tell everyone that Draco and I are cousins then I will not be surprised. The least that I can ask is to not degrade me or him because that will only make him push you further away. I do not know if he will be your friend anymore but if he ever does want to be your friend again then I suggest that you take my advice to not be hateful when you tell everyone of the family scandal," Luna admitted as she stood there and looked straight at the girl that had weariness in her eyes.

That sliver of hesitance and sliver of vulnerability was gone.

In an instant it was shivered up and burnt away.

Pansy Parkinson never took orders from anyone and she narrowed her eyes, straightened her back up even more and whispered, "You will not tell me what I can and cannot do. You are not Draco either; you do not speak for him. Do not think that just because you are related to him that it will change anything. Everyone will still think that you are worthless in the eyes of the purists."

Pansy spun on her heels and stalked off, elegantly of course, while Luna sighed and craned her head to the side. She noted an Aribta Comatti was floating next to her and was about to float towards Pansy but Luna brought her hand up as though to let the creature know that it wouldn't be needed.

Luna didn't see Harry or Hermione until it was time for them to go down to the Great Hall for lunch, and when she reached the Great Hall grand doors she hadn't expected to see that Hermione and Harry were talking eagerly to each other and that Hermione was jumping up and down—saying that she was going to do great things in the Ministry and that she would prove that there was nothing wrong with a Muggle-born being in charge of a department or the whole Ministry.

Skipping up to them Luna smiled warmly, "good afternoon. I see that you are very happy, Hermione. I take it that your appointment with Professor McGonagall went well. And what of you, Harry? What have you chosen to do?"

She noted in the corner of her eye that a few of the students that were passing by them had paused what they were doing or were slowing down so that they would see what the famous boy-who-lived was going to do for the rest of his life.

"You won't believe what he chose!" Hermione exclaimed, as she started to calm down and stop jumping up and down.

Luna smiled warmly at Hermione, "I know that my Harry will do wonderful things, no matter what he chooses to do for the rest of his life."

Harry smiled at her and responded, "I want to be a Healer. I'm tired of seeing death all around me, if I can try and help someone who needs help then I want to do that. I want to feel peace and not have to deal with any dark wizards and witches. I think that I've had enough for one life time to be honest."

Luna beamed as she threw her arms forward and wrapped her arms around him before she snuggled into him. She soaked in the warmth that radiated around him and knew that she couldn't be prouder of her Harry. He wanted to do something that was calm, and something that was wonderful!

"I'm so proud of you, Harry. I know that you will be a wonderful Healer," Luna boasted, while in the background they could hear conversations stirring around them that let them know that people were passing along information that said that Harry Potter wanted to be a Healer.

**_"He wants to be a Healer?"_**

**_ "Who would expect that?"_**

**_ "He always screamed Auror to me."_**

**_ "I'd probably do the same."_**

**_ "He has a point."_**

Luna knew that word would spread and she was happy that the news about her Harry was good news and that he wanted to change the world in a beautiful way. He wanted to help the sick and make sure that they would get better. He wanted to make people feel better instead of wanting to cast spells at them or jinx them or run after dark wizards and witches down alleyways.

"And what of Ronald, do you know what he signed up for?" Luna quietly probed to them—her eyes wandering to where Ronald stood with a group of Hufflepuffs (they were the ones that welcomed him with open arms but very few arms were open for him that were in the fifth year), explaining something.

"He wants to be an Auror," Hermione admitted as she gave a somewhat exasperated look towards the red head. "I do not mean to be rude but he will not be able to be one. His grades are horrendous. I am certain of that."

Luna gave one last look over at Ronald Weasley and knew that what Hermione had said was true—Ronald wouldn't pass the right amount of classes and be able to become an Auror.


	63. aftermath

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**63:** aftermath

**Fred and George** had gotten worse with their pranks—having decided that they didn't even want to deal with Professor Umbridge. Luna obviously knew that they were doing extreme things, such as them changing a corridor into a swamp. It was quite funny when Professor Umbridge saw the corridor and almost screamed, knowing that the last thing that she needed to do was to rant, well at least in public.

That didn't mean that Fred and George didn't get detention on the simpler pranks that she knew they had done. She couldn't say that it was them that had made the swamp in the corridor but she still wanted them to pay for making the swamp in the first place, so she had made them be under the watch of Mr. Filch.

So when Luna was sitting in the Gryffindor Tower while reading an interesting book about some of her favorite creatures she was and wasn't surprised at them talking in the background and saying what new prank that they were going to do. She also knew that they were thinking about dropping out, and she knew that they had wanted to own their own joke shop.

She hadn't expected for Neville to come into the Common Room and blush, before he blurted, "Ginny asked me out!"

Luna snapped her head up and looked at the boy, having not processed the fact that Neville just said that Ginny had asked her out. She blinked and then spoke, "did I hear that right? You said that Ginny asked you out."

Neville nodded his head, "we were writing letters to each other, as always, and then she randomly wrote to me telling me that she loved me and that she wanted us to date because I wasn't ashamed of being around her. I still can't believe that a girl would be interested in me, much less date me."

"Why do you say that? You are a wonderful person, Neville. You have stuck up for yourself these past few years and you're wonderful in Herbology. I would not be surprised if you said that you wanted to be Hogwart's next Herbology teacher. I would proud to have my children taught by you."

Neville shifted his feet before he smiled softly and spoke, "thanks, Luna. That means a lot to me."

Fred and George glanced over at them and smiled wickedly before they straightened up and began to make their way over to Neville and Luna. She could see that Neville was still looking at her and hadn't noticed the twins coming towards him. If he had then he would have had a head start to his dorm.

Neville jumped up in fright when Fred put his hand on Neville's right shoulder and George put his hand on Neville's left shoulder. Fred gave another wicked look, as Neville gulped and turned to them—noticing that they had a twinkle in their eyes.

"So our dear sister—"

"Asked you out?"

"And you said yes?"

"Without checking with us?"

Neville's face became pale again, at the fear that Fred and George would have something up their sleeve that would end up giving him weird side effects. He looked over at Luna as though she could help him before he gulped and booked it up the stairs while Fred and George scurried after him, laughing all the way.

It would not be until a few days later that Fred and George would receive a Howler from their sister and they knew that they were going to get in trouble when they were going home because Ginevra Weasley was not going to let them get away with scaring her new boyfriend.

It also meant that everyone in the school now knew that Neville and Ginny were dating, and almost everyone supported their relationship. The Herbology lovers all sighed and giggled and loved the fact that he had managed to get the girl that he had sent flowers and seeds to and she did the same to him.

Now though everyone could feel that there was something stirring in the air and that before long it would be unleashed and everyone would be greeted with what that feeling happened to be.

Luna hadn't expected it to do with the twins but she should have.

She hadn't heard anything from them other than them saying about how they didn't care about Hogwarts and that they shouldn't even still be here because they could still be successful business men.

She and her friends knew it and all the Gryffindor's and even Ravenclaws knew it, even if they did not care that the boys wanted to throw their education off to the side so easily they knew that the twins would make it.

Luna had barely gotten to the entrance hall of Hogwarts, about to go into the Great Hall so that she could have dinner when she could hear the sound of laughter upstairs. She furled her eyebrows but then remembered that those laughs were coming from Fred and George Weasley—which meant that whoever they were targeting was going to be screwed.

She had turned her head just an inch to the side to look back behind her when students were rushing past her. They looked as though they were running away from something that was chasing them and some of them even went to hit the ground and duck so that they couldn't get hit.

One second Luna was standing there wondering what the twins were doing that would cause the whole school to go into mayhem and the next second she saw the faces of Fred and George Weasley on their broomsticks while they had fireworks going off behind them—laughter radiating from them.

The creatures that usually were around them were brighter than they ever were at that moment, they were happy since their hosts were happy. That also might have been because those kinds of creatures were known to be ones that would surround people like the twins.

Behind her she could hear the Great Hall doors slam open and stay open for the boys to go fly into the Great Hall. Everyone blinked out of their stupor and excitedly followed the boys into the Great Hall—wanting to know what they would do to Professor Umbridge as she was stalking towards them.

"This is outrageous! How dare you!" Professor Umbridge hissed up at them but the two boys merely shrugged their shoulders.

"Shall we tell her, Fred?"

"Go ahead, Georgie."

A look came of exasperation appeared on George's face at his brother calling him Georgie but that soon was wiped away when he looked down at Professor Umbridge. "I, George Weasley and my dashingly good looking brother—"

"Fred Weasley, I'm the more dashing one by the way."

He shot a wink towards some of the girls and they sighed happily while George rolled his eyes before spoke, "As I was saying, we have decided that we are done with this school and find no reason to continue our education."

"And so we're done, but one last thing." George looked over at Peeves, who was the residential ghost that pranked all the students and was an irritating pest, and the said ghost straightened up—as though he was waiting for this day.

"Give her hell for us Peeves," both boys chimed and Peeves nodded his head before he saluted them. With this done the boys spun on their brooms and flew away—but not before they managed to have a firework go off and a magical dragon appeared from the firework.

It began to chase after the woman and she flew down onto the ground, while Professor McGonagall was giggling behind her hand that was up to her mouth. She had never been more proud of the twins than at this moment.

By the time Professor Umbridge had gotten up from the ground and was wiping off the dirt from her outfit the two boys were gone and all that they were greeted with was the sight of Professor Umbridge looking as though she had fallen into a pit.

To say the least, Peeves kept his promise.


	64. are you there, Sirius?

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**64:** are you there, Sirius?

**Everything went **to hell for Professor Umbridge.

With the stupid bravery that Fred and George Weasley had, the students that were more prone to making pranks and or helping with the process were free to do what they wanted and make sure that the woman would want nothing more than to leave the school.

Mr. Filch was found running down the corridors and trying to fix whatever he could, though being a Squib (a Squib was a person in the family that wasn't a witch or wizard) meant that he could only do so much without having to call for one of the professors to help him.

It would not be until Ronald surprised them while Luna was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room with Hermione and Harry that things seemed to take a more interesting turn. The read head was walking up to them and rubbing the back of his neck, "I know that you won't be my friend anymore, and I still do apologize for the way that I treated. Can we at least be civil with each other?"

Luna felt a bit of regret flush through her and shame. She had been so carelessly pushing him aside merely because he had stopped being friends with them. She didn't care about him, but she knew that he had been of the wrong and that was when she looked straight up at Ronald.

"I forgive you, Ronald. I believe that everyone deserves a second chance. You mean a lot to us, and I apologize for just pushing you to the side. I would like to be your friend again, but if you do not change then I am certain that we shall not be able to continue our friendship," Luna softly told him and that perked up both Hermione and Harry—the both of them peering at her with surprise.

Harry flushed too as he stood up and put his hand out, "I'm sorry too, mate. I just got angry that's all. I know that you did too. Luna's right, I should give you a second chance."

Ron's face lit up as though he had just been told that he had been given the best birthday present he ever had. In fact tears were starting to rise in his tear ducts and they began to drip down his cheekbones. He sniffled some and then wiped them away, ashamed that he was crying happily.

Hermione stood up next and frowned but nodded her head, "Luna is right, she normally is right when it comes to these things. I feel as though these past few weeks have taught you Ronald that you shouldn't be so haste when it comes to what you say. I give you a second chance."

"Thanks guys," Ron managed to mumble before he looked at Luna straight on. She felt Harry wrap his arm around her as a whole, pulling her to his side. She leant her head against the side of his arm and spoke, "you don't have to say anything, Ron. I understand, and as I said—I forgive you. I also know that I was of the wrong when it came to pushing you off to the side."

And so the Golden Trio was formed once more. Ron Weasley had learnt his lesson—that he should learn to control his temper and that he hadn't gotten what some people had always wanted….a second chance.

Harry finally found a time where he could talk to Remus and Sirius about his dad, and Luna stayed in her tower as he did so. He wore his Invisibility cloak in his Common Room and spoke to them—told them all the things that had happened through the Floo system in the Common Room fireplace.

Ron had even tried to make sure that no one would come downstairs that were boys so that they couldn't ruin the conversation that Harry had with them while Hermione did the same with the girls.

Of course the conversation was cut short when Harry told them the next day that Professor Umbridge's hand had come out of the flames and that she was reaching out of the fireplace so that she could grab Harry and pull him through.

It only meant that they couldn't talk to Sirius and Remus like they thought that they could. Marietta Edgecombe's mother had probably been livid when she had found out what had happened to her precious daughter and made sure that the fireplaces would be extremely secured so that no one could talk to anyone outside of the school without Professor Umbridge knowing it.

When they had found out that Fred and George had bought a store in Diagon Alley Ron had questioned aloud to anyone and everyone that was listening, "How did they get the money though? They don't have that kind of money."

"I gave them the money from the tournament. I didn't need it, I have enough money for me and my children and their children," Harry told him as he glanced around—while Ron's eyes almost bulged out of their skull before he blinked.

"You gave em the money?" Ron looked as though he wanted to speak more but luckily Luna spoke up, "I think that it's lovely you did that Harry. It's their dream, it has been, and I remember being little and them eagerly talking about how they were going to be famous jokesters. I have seen their creatures around them grow brighter and flasher each year, it's quite lovely."

"They didn't want it at first," Harry confessed and then he continued, "I told them that I didn't need it. They finally took it at last, when they were sure that I didn't want to keep it."

"Mum blew a casket when she found out that they had dropped out and said that they were going to open a joke shop. She never thought that it would happen…" Ron chuckled before he smiled and commented, "then again, this is Fred and George that we're talking about, if anyone could make it happen it'd be those two."

Before long the next Quidditch match appeared and it was Gryffindor that was playing against Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff had surprised everyone and had beat Slytherin, which in the return made Hufflepuff almost want to smirk and be a little cocky at the fact that they won a match against the snakes.

When it was the match that was Luna's House against Harry's house everyone was interested in seeing how it would turn out. Luna was the only one that stayed though, only because of the fact that Harry would find out that Hagrid had brought his half brother, Gwamp, back from the mountains.

While Harry was talking to Hagrid out in the forest Luna sat at the Quidditch match with a live eagle on her head—something that still scared the living daylights out of some of the students. She couldn't count how many times that students would be sitting down or picking up their drinks and they'd fall down or they'd drop their drinks.

Luna knew that Gwamp was bad news, and so did her friends. Mandy didn't know about it, but Luna never really told Mandy things that had to do with that. She knew that she would keep some secrets away from her best friend only because she knew that Hagrid trusted the Golden Trio and Luna with the information—so it was not her information to tell.

Besides Mandy still was irritated at the fact that she had to terminate her relationship with Blaise Zabini this year because of the fact that he was still listening to his mother and his latest stepfather on how to be a proper pureblood. He had been starting to act worse and more irritated—to say the least he wasn't the same as he was last year and when he did speak he would always start arguments with Mandy.

She didn't know that her best friend was cousins with Draco Malfoy, but Luna didn't want to tell anyone and everyone. She knew that the only way one would find out that she was cousins with him would either be through the Order when they were there that very day or when Pansy would decide that it was the best time to tell everyone that Draco was Luna's cousin.

From the tired looks on her friends' faces it was evident that they weren't that happy to meet the groundskeeper's half-brother. They also looked as though they didn't want to even be in that forest to begin with but Hagrid was a dear friend of theirs and they had gone to him when he had asked them to.

The good news was that Gryffindor won, and everyone was celebrating what had happened throughout the night. Harry could just sit in the Common Room and drink some butter beers with his friends and Luna could sit next to him while humming and crocheting a beautiful indigo sweater.

She was making it for Ginny for her birthday, and had made sure to be completely detailed in the actual sweater. She was putting little pieces of lighter purple in random places to make the sweater look even more unique.

Hermione loved it and had asked Luna if she would make one for her, which Luna eagerly agreed to—she had found that she loved being like a seamstress in a way and it helped her relax. She remembered her mum would knit and sew and crotched when she was stress and she couldn't focus on making a potion that very moment.

For awhile everything was fine, until it was time for exams. Luna knew that something was wrong, when she had felt a cold shiver go through her spine.

She didn't think of anything else than jumping up from her spot at her desk and rushing out of the classroom before heading down the different corridors—knowing that she needed to see her friends and her Harry, because one of them had something happen.

She had barely gotten to the Great Hall when she saw Harry stumble out of the room and have a look of fear in his eyes. Luna rushed over to him and quickly spoke, "what is it? Did you have another vision?"

Harry looked up at Luna, "they have him. They have Sirius…"

Luna's eyes widened and she felt her heart drop, not knowing how she would react to the fact that her second cousin could have possibly been taken by the Death Eaters, very well Voldemort.

It was already bad enough that Professor McGonagall had been injured a few nights ago while Harry and his friends had their Astronomy exam. She had been defending Hagrid while Hagrid was possibly being arrested, only for Professor McGonagall to be hit with a curse and she went sailing back—being knocked out cold.

Now Luna was possibly about to lose her second cousin.

Luna ran down the corridor with Harry, Ron, and Hermione—her other two friends had come out of the Great Hall not long after Harry had run out of it.

Harry grabbed her hand, "come on, Luna. We need to get to Professor Umbridge's office; we need to see if we can get in contact with Sirius. We have to make sure that this vision isn't real."

Luna didn't have time to say anything but she followed them, noting in the corner of her eye that Neville appeared and so did Mandy. She blinked a few times and they shot her a nod.

"We heard about it, they needed more people that can be distractions. I'm going to talk to you later about you keeping your relations away from me but for now we need to make sure that your cousin is okay," Mandy spoke.

"Ginny tells me that I'm brave all the time. I know that if she was here she'd be defending you guys and you guys like me and believe in me and I'll try my best to protect you," Neville added.

Luna would have spoken if she had the chance to, but all she could think was her second cousin being held captive by Voldemort and his followers. Aunt Bellatrix would make certain to kill her cousin, after all anyone who did not follow in the ways of Voldemort deserved to die.

Harry kept his hand in hers and she merely followed him as they rounded different corridors and landed in front Professor Umbridge's office (Professor Dumbledore's office wouldn't open no matter how many times she tried to make it open).

When they reached Professor Umbridge's office Mandy and Neville got into their positions to make sure that none of the students would come down this hallway. Hermione opened the office door with her wand before they came in. They dismissed the sound of the cats on the plates that were hissing at them or were meowing, as though they were trying to alert their owner.

Harry threw Floo dust into the fireplace and called out the address before he stuck his head through the flames. Luna threw her head forward too, knowing that she needed to make sure that Sirius was at home.

The kitchen was barren.


	65. stuck

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**65:** stuck

** "Sirius, are you there?"**

As Harry and Luna called out for Sirius, instead of being greeted with Harry's godfather and Luna's second cousin they were welcomed with Kreacher coming from the stairs and glaring at them.

"What? What do you want?" Kreacher hissed as he walked towards him, his ugly features becoming even sourer as he looked them over. Luna's eyes widened when she saw Videra Expera's surrounding the House Elf.

"Where's Sirius? Is Sirius here?" Harry demanded and Kreacher merely narrowed his eyes at the teenage boy, as though he was wondering why he should even answer him since he was not his master.

"Kreacher has not seen Master. Good thing too, Kreacher hates Master, Kreacher wishes Master was dead!" Kreacher screeched at them, having not known that the very first sentence he had spoken made the Videra Expera around him turn vivid blue, allowing Luna to know that he was lying.

"He's lying! He has Videra Expera around him! They turned blue! Sirius is there!" Luna told Harry as she turned to look at him, only for him to almost hesitate at what his Luna was saying. The hurried tone in her voice allowed him to know that what she had said was true, that he really was at the house but Kreacher was going to make sure that what he had told them wasn't the truth.

"Kreacher does not lie!" Kreacher seethed at them, "Kreacher says the truth! Kreacher has not seen Master!"

Again the Videra Expera turned vivid blue, and without thinking things through Luna went through the fireplace and landed in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Behind her she saw Harry get pulled back and the fireplace went off—the flames were gone and all that was there were ashes.

Luna dismissed Kreacher as he began to yell at her, telling her that she was trespassing and that he hoped that she would be killed. She dismissed him as she went upstairs to the foyer. She glanced around before she cried out, "Sirius! Sirius, are you here?"

There was a loud curse upstairs and then thundering footsteps as Luna was greeted with Sirius at the top of the stairs with dirty hay on him and some gunk that let her know that he had been taking care of Buckbeak.

"Luna! What are you doing here?" Sirius demanded as he ran down the stairs and reached her. If it were any other time she would have scrunched her nose back at the disgusting smell that radiated from him.

"Harry had a vision! He saw you being held captive by Voldemort and his followers! You need to get to Hogwarts!" Luna instructed, forcing Sirius's eyes to widen even more before he started heading towards the front door.

"Not on my watch! You stay here, Luna. I need you to guard the place," Sirius responded as he went to open the front door only for Luna to speak. "I need to go, Sirius. I love Harry just as much as you do."

Sirius turned around so that he could look at her. He reached forward and put his hands on her face, she could see that his eyes had hardened and that he was completely focused on finding Harry and making sure that nothing would happen where Harry would get harmed.

"No! I can't lose you, Luna. You need to stay here; I promise you that nothing is going to happen to Harry. I'll make sure that he comes back, I promise."

Luna barely opened her mouth before she felt him kiss her on the forehead, "I love you, Luna. Remember that."

Then Sirius was gone, he went through the front door and never looked back. She went forward and locked the front door before she felt tears wash down her cheekbones at the knowledge that she was left in this house and that she wasn't there to help fight with Harry and Hermione and Ron and whoever else went with them to go and find Sirius—having not known that Sirius had been here and that he wasn't where they thought that he was.

She hadn't even paid attention to the curtain being opened and her great aunt start her tyrant about how she didn't want to see Luna again and that she had heard everything and that she hoped that Sirius died. Anyone who went against Voldemort needed to die, especially her son.

Luna felt her back hit the wallpapered wall behind her and she slowly slid down onto the ground, her back still against the wall. She peered forward and felt the tears wash down even more, they burst from her tear ducts and she did not even try to stop them as she sobbed loudly and harshly.

She remembered losing her mum and she remembered when she thought that she was going to lose her dad.

She thought of Draco and how much she loved him and that she wished that he had been raised differently and that he hadn't been raised into this kind of environment that he had been raised in.

She thought of her aunt, of Aunt Narcissa and how she still loved her deeply and that she still loved the woman even when she was under the careful eye of Voldemort. She had been forced into this life too, she had married someone who was a Death Eater and followed Voldemort. She might have believed in him in the beginning but now all she wanted was for her son to be okay.

She thought of Ginny and how the girl had her magic core shattered from Voldemort; she remembered that her best friend was clinging to life. She could have easily died down in the chambers but she was lucky that she had survived. She might not have been able to go back to Hogwarts but she was alive.

She thought of her cousin Dora and how the woman was remarkable. She might trip a lot and she might be able to change her appearance but she was different and Luna loved her for that. She loved how the woman had run to her in the snow and that her hair had changed to an assortment of different colors in happiness at seeing that her cousin was alive and that she had destroyed the blood quill.

She thought of her Harry. Oh she loved her Harry with all her heart. She knew that he was the one and that they had been made for each other. She thought of their first kiss and how bittersweet it was. She thought of them when they had gone to the Yule Ball and how the charmed snow fell from the Great Hall and fell onto his dark locks. She thought of his beautiful green eyes and how they stared at her—through her to her soul and how he knew that she was made of the same stardust as her.

She thought of her loved ones until she knew that she could only wait for what would happen next. She knew that all she could do was pray that her loved ones would come back.

She wanted Sirius back, she wanted him to come through that door with Harry and allow her to know that he wasn't going to leave her. He would give her a huge smile and she'd throw her arms around him and hug him, happy that she hadn't had another family member taken by death.

She wrapped her arms around herself and only craned her head towards the right when she saw that Kreacher was stalking towards her with a large knife in his hand. He had an evil glint in his eye and when he saw that she had turned he hissed at her.

"Kreacher kill filthy blood! Mistress will be proud of Kreacher! It will be one last traitor for the Black family!" Kreacher exclaimed as the knife glinted from the lights above him. Luna merely peered at him—she was tired and she had tear rimmed eyes that let him know that she was drained of energy.

"Kreacher, killing me won't bring back Aunt Walburga," she told him and Kreacher hissed at her as though he couldn't believe that she would call his mistress by her biological label for Luna.

"Kreacher knows! Kreacher does not care, Kreacher has Mistress on wall! Kreacher will always have Mistress!" Kreacher declared, his eyes looking up at his mistress's portrait above him. He smiled up at her, with clear love and adoration on his face. The loyalty was unbinding for her.

Luna turned her head away from Kreacher, having decided that Kreacher wasn't going to actually kill her when she knew that he was there. She knew that he had wanted to see her die before his very eyes but he wanted to be sneaky about it. She knew that he could be sneaky; House Elves usually could be sneaky.

"What do you feel about Uncle Alphard, Kreacher?" Luna probed to the House Elf, seeing that Kreacher had a sour face at the mention of his mistress's brother.

"Mistress's brother was not fully loyal to Dark Lord! He was not loyal to Mistress!" Kreacher confessed as he thought of the man and how he was always nice to Sirius, whenever his mistress had her back turned.

"Mistress never told Kreacher to kill brother. Kreacher would have gladly killed brother for her! Kreacher would be honored!" Kreacher added as he still held the knife in his hand, it was apparent that he was not going to use the knife on Luna but he did enjoy talking about his mistress and her family members and killing said family members if his mistress allowed him to.

"Have you ever killed anyone Kreacher?" Luna kept her hands in front of her as she watched the House Elf.

"Kreacher kill other House Elves for Mistress! Kreacher likes killing for Mistress! Mistress allowed Kreacher to kill other House Elves! Especially disgusting ones that would ruin Mistress's fine clothes with spilled food and wine!" Kreacher smiled in a sinister manner as he remembered killing the House Elves that would make his Mistress upset.

Mistress would beam with happiness and she would tell him that she was proud of him. She would brag about Kreacher and how he was the best House Elf she ever had. He would be shown off whenever Mistress would have her friends over and they would be impressed by the loyalty that Kreacher had.

Other witches asked for Kreacher, but Mistress denied Kreacher for anyone else. Kreacher was one of a kind and Kreacher could only be owned by Mistress. Kreacher would have never left Mistress.

"Kreacher wishes Bellatrix was Mistress," Kreacher added in an after thought, as he remembered the wicked woman and how she had made his Mistress so proud of her. Bellatrix didn't really care for Kreacher but she tolerated him and that was enough for him to like her! She was a true Black and one he would gladly be under the service of, instead of Master.

Luna hadn't moved from her spot when she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the kitchen. If she did she would have realized that there was one person less than the amount that went to confront the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

She would have realized that a person had died.


	66. gone but not forgotten

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**63:** gone but not forgotten

**She couldn't have** expected to see that it was Mandy that had died.

Yet when the group came up from the kitchen cellar the pixie hair cut girl was not there. Sirius was standing there, along with Harry and Hermione and Ron and Neville but Luna's only friend in Ravenclaw was not standing in front of her and giving her usual smirk. She wasn't there telling her that she just killed someone because they were trying to kill her first.

No she wasn't greeted with Mandy at all and it felt horrible. She knew that Mandy had been upset the last time that they had seen each other and that she had told her that she wanted to know about Luna and being related to the Blacks.

She would never be able to hear the explanation and how Luna wasn't ashamed of whom she was related to. She wouldn't have the chance to tell her that Aunt Narcissa was being abused by Uncle Lucius or that Draco had saved her from having Pansy strike her across the face for telling her the truth.

So Luna sat there and peered forward at the withered wallpaper in front of her, not really knowing what to do. She felt as though she was actually just a soul that was hovering near her body and that she was waiting to see what anyone would do so that she would be able to decide what to do next.

Luna had already cried enough tears for today so she just looked forward and she appeared to be a porcelain statue of herself. She had her eyes dry, but there was still red tinged around her irises and her face was still streaked with dry tears.

"Luna? Luna, can you hear us?"

Luna didn't turn her head towards the person that had spoken; she merely continued staring at the wallpaper. She noticed some stains on the wallpaper that probably were overlooked. She didn't want to know if the dark stains were elegant antique wine stains or they were bloods of House Elves and those who stood in the way of Walburga and Orion Black.

She took simple breaths as she felt someone scoop her up in their arms and carry her away from everyone else. She didn't notice that it was Sirius that had done this and that he was not showing any emotion either. He had already lost one of his best friends and the other one was as good as dead in his opinion because the man was nothing more than a disgusting rat that led Lily and James Potter to their deaths.

Luna didn't know how long she was curled up in one of the many assortments of bedrooms that the Black family had. All she knew was that she must have been there for hours and hours and hours until she heard the bedroom door open and she looked up to see that Molly Weasley was standing in the doorway with a tray of food in her hands—steam was wisping from the heat of the food.

"I'm going to sit the food on the dresser. If you don't eat it by the time I come back in a few hours I'll have to feed you, all right?" Molly probed this quietly towards Luna and the girl managed to nod her head before Molly sat the tray down onto the dresser and walked out of the doorway.

The door shut behind her in a thud.

It was with this thud that Luna burst out crying once more. She had lost another person she loved dearly. Mandy didn't deserve to die. Mandy hadn't done anything wrong, except maybe being friends with her.

If Mandy wasn't friends with her then she wouldn't have been with them when they had gone to the Ministry and fought against the Death Eaters. Mandy wouldn't have been struck with a Killing Curse.

Luna reached her hands up and wiped away the tears from her face with haste, wanting nothing more than to stop crying. All she had been doing lately was crying.

Crying never brought someone back from the dead. She had learnt that lesson when she had her mother die and she didn't come back—she didn't wake Luna up when she was screaming and tell her that she was having a bad dream and that she hadn't been in her lab making a potion that she shouldn't have been making.

She slowly got up from her spot on the bed and made her way towards the tray. She plucked it up from the dresser and went over to the bed before she sat down and noticed that Mrs. Weasley had made her tomato soup (Luna had no doubt in her mind that Mrs. Weasley must have handmade it) along with some bread that she could dunk into the soup and eat.

Footsteps reverberated outside of her bedroom that she had occupied, she had heard countless times people clearing their throats and ushering others away. She could hear that it was Hermione first that had come up here and wanted to see Luna, and then there was Neville but when she heard her Harry ask if he could see her a part of Luna wanted to tell him to come in and another part of her wanted to tell him that she needed some time alone.

"I'm sorry, my dear. Maybe later, she needs to eat and once she's done I'll have Dora or Sirius come up here and talk to her," Molly explained and Luna looked back down at her soup as she could hear the sound of Harry's protests.

"I'm sorry, Harry but Molly's right. Luna just lost a friend, she needs some time alone. I'll have Dora come up, I'm not really good at these kinds of things," Sirius admitted on the other side of the door but Luna shook her head as she sat the tray down and went towards the bedroom door.

She opened the door and turned her head in the direction of where Sirius was. He had some nasty cuts on his face and his clothes were torn but he was still alive. She reached him and threw her arms around him before she cried some more. She could feel him tense in her arms before he reached his fingers down and ran his fingers through her hair—still not knowing what to truly do though.

He didn't have any children (well as far as he knew) so he wasn't used to these kinds of things. How could he comfort his cousin and let her know that he loved her and that he knew what she felt like?

Luna didn't say anything but Sirius knew that she must have known that he knew what it felt to lose someone that meant the world to you. James Potter was like a brother to him, he **_was _**his brother to him. Regulus never was like a brother to him, he was easily persuaded by Bellatrix too much.

He knew that he couldn't tell Luna that it was Bellatrix that had cast the curse. It was intended for Sirius but within seconds Mandy had jumped in front of him and had been hit. She had fallen forward into The Veil and then she was gone forever, her own family wouldn't be able to recover her body.

Mandy must have loved Luna so deeply to have thrown herself in front of her best friend's cousin to make sure that the said cousin would live. That curse had been meant for him, yet she had taken for him.

Luna turned so that she was facing Harry and brought her hand out for him. In seconds he had wrapped his arms around her and the three fell onto the ground—two of her most important men in her life were here.

She knew that Mandy was gone but she would never be forgotten.


	67. new arrivals

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**67:** new arrivals

**The end **of the school year came and Professor Umbridge was gone. She had been captured by the Centaurs that were in the Forbidden Forest, all because she wasn't supposed to be in there and she was extremely racist towards the kind as a whole. She hated any creature that was not a human and when she insulted them she basically signed a death wish.

Professor Dumbledore was reinstated as the headmaster of Hogwarts and everyone was glad to have him back except for the Slytherins. They obviously wanted nothing to do with him and they were waiting for a headmaster or headmistress that would take his place again. They also wanted someone who would make sure that Professor Dumbledore would die so that he couldn't be Headmaster anymore.

Luna was surprised when her dad had arrived at Grimmauld and had glanced around nervously. Luna had sat him down in the parlor and told him everything, how Sirius Black was her second cousin and that Draco Malfoy was her cousin. She said how Narcissa Malfoy was her mother's twin and that Andromeda was her aunt also—Dora was her cousin that she loved dearly.

She didn't have to say that Bellatrix Lestrange was her aunt; they knew that horrid and evil woman would make sure to kill Luna when she would see her again. She had been extremely sad when she had not seen her dear niece at the Ministry. She had planned on killing her, though she thought that Sirius would do.

He had been shocked to say the least and he had gotten up from his place in the parlor room and left them for a few hours. She didn't cry, though her heart clenched as she wondered if her daddy would be angered towards his wife.

When he came back he was sad and disappointed that his wife hadn't trusted him with the information. He even told Luna that he was proud that he was her father and that he would have still married her mother, not only because she was gorgeous in his eyes but she was also the one for him.

The last thing that they had expected though was to have Severus Snape come through the front door with two other people. He always came alone and Luna knew that the man was insanely not cared about by her friends. She cared about his health, yes he was not the nicest person and he had his own sins but he still needed to take care of himself in the end.

The two people that were in front of Luna as she was heading out of the parlor room one night happened to be Aunt Narcissa and Draco. Aunt Narcissa had a large bruise on her face and hand prints on her throat. Her hair was messy and her mascara dripped down her face. She obviously did not look like the elegant woman that she always displayed herself to be.

Draco had some bruises on him and messed up clothes like his mother. His eyes were flickering around him—taking in the macabre scenery around him. He seemed weary of the place, as though he didn't know if he liked it.

Luna didn't hesitate any longer to run forward and wrap her arms around Draco. She took in his scent—he always wore cologne. It sunk itself into her nose and she just held tight on him, not wanting to let go of him at the moment.

Behind her she could hear people heading into the foyer and people were probably gawking at the sight before them. They never thought that they would be greeted with Narcissa and Draco Malfoy in the Black foyer.

Luna pulled away from Draco after a moment of holding him before she went over to her aunt and hugged her too. She could feel the woman tighten as though she hadn't expected for her niece to be hugging her. She should have known that her twin's daughter would hug her because she loved her even with her faults.

Narcissa hugged the girl back, tears were flowing down her cheekbones and they fell onto Luna's head. She wondered what it would have been like if she had been stronger when she was younger and had left Lucius.

"Severus, are you mad? Why are they here?" Molly screeched and Luna felt tears begin to appear in her tear ducts. She pulled out of her aunt's arms and turned around, glaring at Molly.

"They are hurt, in pain! Uncle Lucius is an extremely horrible man. He has been abusing them!" Luna yelled at them, knowing that she was going to defend her aunt and cousin.

"You-know-who will find them and if they go back he'll be able to know this place!" Arthur exclaimed, agreeing with his wife. It was apparent that they would have thrown out the woman and teenager if they could.

"I will teach them Occlumency; I have already started teaching Narcissa a few weeks ago. Even if they make a decision to leave and go back the Dark Lord will not know of this place. I can assure you of that," Severus drawled out as his eyes lazily went over all of the people in the foyer.

"We need to talk about this! Come downstairs, children stay here. Mrs. Malfoy, please come with us," Molly decided as she went towards the kitchen cellar. Aunt Narcissa was extremely quiet—she seemed as though she was barely there to begin with and she was expecting to be pushed out of the door.

Draco on the other hand reached out his hand and took Luna's in his. She squeezed his hand and headed into the parlor. As she entered she could hear Ron, Hermione, and Harry follow them.

She was surprised that her Harry had not automatically yanked her away from her cousin but maybe he knew how much Draco meant to her and how she would have shoved him anyway if he even tried to separate them.

Turning to Draco, Luna quietly spoke, "Draco, how did you get here? Was **_he _**not around? What of Uncle Lucius? Does he know of this?"

Again none of her friends chimed in their opinions because they knew that they too wanted to know of what had happened with Draco and Narcissa.

"They were away. I am certain that they were visiting some of my House mates so that they could persuade their parents to join him. That or he was visiting those who had betrayed him and was going to kill them. My father had to come along; Father is not in good position with him. My horrid aunt was eager to go, I am certain that she would murder all of the betrayals even if the Dark Lord did not tell her to do so."

Luna turned her head, seeing that her friends were analyzing what the boy had said. Luna knew that her cousin was telling the truth. It seemed as though her friends believed him too because it sounded as though that would happen.

"Professor Snape brought us here; he knew that we could be protected. He said that he was going to teach us Occlumency so that we are better prepared and safe if the Dark Lord decides to probe our thoughts."

"Isn't your mother a Death Eater though?" Ron asked and Draco shook his head. "No, she's not. She's merely a wife of one. She's there during the meetings and whenever the Dark Lord needs her but other than that no."

Luna grabbed Draco and leant his head against her. She combed her fingers through his hair in a motherly manner—unlike how Pansy would run her fingers through his hair as though he was a prize that she had won.

"Where else would you go? If you can't stay, I mean," Hermione was the one who asked this and Luna was happy that Hermione was being professional at the moment and that she wasn't spitting out insults at him. Maybe it was because Luna was saying that her uncle was abusive to his son and wife.

"We don't have anywhere else to go. I am certain that Auntie Bella, as she likes to be called, would find us and murder us because we'd be betraying her master," Draco supplied as he closed his eyes and allowed Luna to continue combing his hair in a gentle manner.

Luna hummed as she still ran her fingers through his hair before she turned and looked at her friends and her Harry, "I know that you will not trust him but I trust him. I love him, and I want him to be safe. I do not want him hurt anymore."

Her Harry sighed as he stood up and walked up to Draco; Draco opened his eyes and peered at the boy-who-lived as he reached his hand out for Draco to take. "I love Luna with everything that I am. You have yet to hurt her and for that I am grateful. I cannot say that I fully trust you and you have done some horrible things in the past but if you come onto the Light Side then I am certain that we will be able to put things in the past and possibly be friends in the future."

Draco reached his hand out with hesitance, as though he expected for Harry to tell him that he could never see his cousin again and that he was going to throw them out of his second cousin's house with his mother.

"I agree," Draco finally said as he reached his hand out and shook Harry's hand, sealing the words and actions that Harry would take with the pureblood that was raised in a hideous society.

Luna smiled warmly as she looked up at her love, knowing that her love was trying to be civil with Draco meant the world to her. Though Hermione and Ron had not said anything, she was certain that within time they could put things into the past and that they possibly be at least acquaintances.

The four teenagers sat there for awhile, not wanting to walk around. Draco soon fell asleep against his cousin's shoulder and Luna smiled at him, knowing that her cousin needed his rest.

It would not be until two hours later that Luna would be greeted with her aunt and the rest of the Order that was present. Sirius looked as though he wanted to tell the woman to leave immediately but he too knew that Luna cherished her aunt and her cousin. He didn't see a reason to trust his cousin.

Narcissa still looked as though she had seen death and when Molly announced, "I do not know if I will come to trust you Narcissa but for now you may stay. I have some clothes upstairs that you may change into."

Narcissa stood there for almost a whole minute before she responded, "thank you, Molly. Do you have any clothes for Draco?"

Sirius was the one who spoke this time, "I have some of my old clothes from when I went to Hogwarts. He may wear some of them."

Narcissa had a look of relief on her face, happy that her cousin at least was being civil to her and that he was not telling her that she should have to do something that was out of her comfort zone.

"I appreciate it, along with Draco. I do not normally say thank you, as you can tell but for you I am making a decision to do so. Draco and I would have been dead out there if Severus had not found us," Narcissa admitted as she looked down at her high heels. They were making her feet hurt but her mother said that she had to keep the heels on no matter what.

She wasn't supposed to show pain.

She looked around and wondered if Andromeda had joined the Order, but then again this was something that her older sister would do. She had already married a Muggle and her parents, Cygnus the third, and Druella Rosier would be rolling in their grave if they knew that another one of their daughters was possibly thinking about joining the Order in the end.

Narcissa was frightened though, very frightened. She loved her son since the first time she laid her eyes on him. He was perfect and she was proud of her son, she didn't know if she could say the same for Lucius.

She knew her husband loved her but it still hurt that he had gone into alcoholism because of the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord basically handed a wine glass of fire whiskey to Lucius.

She turned her eyes back towards Luna and without even thinking she walked towards her. Luna looked up and Aunt Narcissa crouched down so that she could look straight at Luna. "I have never had a daughter, though I tried very hard to have another child. I was so excited when Pandora had named me the godmother of you and I can tell you this—I am so proud of you."

She then looked at Harry, "I know that you do not like me, Harry Potter. I ask not for you to like me. You may loathe me all you want; I have had people loath me for all my life. I only ask you to protect Luna."

Harry nodded his head, "I promise, Mrs. Malfoy. Luna means the world to me and I will make sure that she will survive."

Narcissa kissed Luna on the forehead and then stood up—smoothed down her dirty and frayed clothes before she gently woke up Draco. He groaned as he fluttered his eyes open before he noticed that his mother was in front of him.

"Come, Draco. Sirius said that he has some clothes that you may wear." Aunt Narcissa watched as her son stood up and so did Luna. Luna hugged her cousin once more and he kissed the crown of her head.

"I promise you too Luna that I will try with all my power to make sure that you will not die," Draco vowed and Luna smiled at him before she nodded her head. "I know you will, Draco."

Then he followed his mother to the creaky stairs that would only grow creakily each day. They were in horrible condition but Narcissa did not care. All she wanted was to go to bed and try to forget what had happened.

Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Harry made his way towards her and sat down. She sat on his lap and let him run his fingers through her hair. Ron and Hermione started conversing with each other—Luna was certain that Hermione was going to try and help Ron achieve his goal to be an Auror.

"I love you, Harry."

"I love you, Lune."


	68. caught in between

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_68_**: _caught in between_

**Narcissa and Draco Malfoy **weren't welcomed at Grimmauld despite being informed that they could stay.

Luna knew that it was because there was no other place that the mother and son could go. This was the only safe place where they could go—a place where Voldemort couldn't find them and the Order knew that they would have to deal with Narcissa and Draco Malfoy.

Sirius merely tolerated his cousin and said cousin's son. He didn't want anything to do with them but he was nice to them whenever Luna would enter the room because he cared about her. He knew that she had so much faith towards her aunt and cousin and he didn't want to be the one to dismantle it so harshly.

So when Luna woke one odd morning in the summer and went downstairs into the kitchen cellar she found Aunt Narcissa sitting at the wooden table all by herself. Molly Weasley was cutting some vegetables with a skill of a practiced home chef. She had always been nifty in the kitchen.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley, Aunt Narcissa," Luna greeted them and Molly turned her head towards the girl. "Good morning, love. I would have expected you to stay in bed a little longer. If Ronald could he'd sleep as long as he could."

It was true, Ron only came downstairs when it was almost eleven o'clock in the morning, and he liked to sleep in quite often. Molly often filled buckets full of cold water before splashing her son awake in hot summers or yanking his sheets off his bed. Her other sons quite enjoyed seeing their little brother soaked to the bone with cold water and the chance of getting phenomena.

"I'm used to waking early; I want to get as much of my day in as possible. The Feyali are early risers and they like to wake me when the sun rises," Luna informed them as she went towards the kettle so that she could pour some tea into a cup. She dismissed the furled eyebrows that both women made.

Once she had filled her cup of tea she turned and went towards the kitchen table. She sat the small porcelain tea cup in front of the chair that was next to her aunt's left side. She pulled back the chair and sat down before she pulled the chair forward. Steam drifted from the surface of the cup with gentleness.

Turning her head towards her aunt, Luna scooted her chair so that she was as close to her aunt before she leant forward and allowed her head to rest against the woman's arm. Said woman jumped at the fact that her niece had so eagerly leant into her like a small child would with their mother.

"I am happy to be with you, Aunt Narcissa. It is not quite the way that I wanted to be in your life once more but you are still here. I know that the others don't know how to feel about you yet but I know that they will see in due time that you're wonderful and that you're worth being loved," Luna quietly told her as she felt the woman stiffen another moment.

Then she was greeted with pure sobbing that let her know that her aunt was in emotional pain. She pulled away and noted that her aunt had her head tilted down and that she was wiping away the tears that were flowing down her tear ducts. She looked as though she had tried to keep herself from crying in the past but with her safe and her son safe the tears kept flowing.

"I—I don't deserve you, Luna!" she cried as she hastily wiped away the tears. She swallowed and looked up at Luna, "how come you do not hate me? You do not judge me but I am not meant to be put on this pedestal that you have given me. I am not worth any of this."

Molly surprised both Luna and her aunt when they could hear the knife that she had been chopping lettuce with get stabbed back into the wooden cutting board. She turned on her heels and she looked square in the eye with Narcissa Malfoy, "I am going to act like I didn't hear that because I know that you do indeed deserve this, Narcissa. I can see it in your eyes that you have never killed anyone, that you have been used and you have hated yourself more than anyone could possibly hate you."

Narcissa opened her mouth and looked as though she was going to say something but she couldn't think of what it was that she should say. Molly took this opportunity to continue, "I also believe that a man or woman should never strike their hand upon their partner. Abuse should not be tolerated; abuse does not need to be excused. You did not ask to have him hurt you and he needs to change. Not you. You did the right thing with leaving him."

Narcissa looked down at the table again, still not knowing what to say this time. Her mother often told her that she should listen to her future husband because he was the man of the house and that he provided all that she and their children needed. She was told that a man does not do anything to his wife unless it was necessary.

How could striking someone across the face for even speaking out of term, to even make an opinion mean that someone was providing what was necessary for them? Abuse was not necessary.

"I left for Draco. Draco means the world to me," she finally said and Molly sighed before she slowly made her way towards the older woman. Luna had already moved away from her aunt and now she was looking at her best friend's mother.

"Yes and my children mean the world to me. I would do anything for them, without even thinking twice. As I said before, you did the right thing." Molly reached her hand out and touched Narcissa's shoulder as though to let her know that she understood her a little bit better.

"Luna, I don't think your aunt wants to be in a talkative mood today," Molly addressed as she looked at the blonde haired girl. Luna was peering up at her with nothing more than complete attentive respect.

"Are you tired, Aunt Narcissa? I do not think that you must have gotten some good sleep last night," Luna inquired. Narcissa sighed and shook her head, "No, I haven't had good sleep. I do not have fond memories of this house."

"Neither do I have fond memories of this place, my cousin. That is something we can both agree on."

The women and young girl turned their heads and saw that Sirius was heading down the stairs; they also saw that he was heading towards his cousins with a formal tone. He studied his elder of the two cousins and then looked over at Molly.

"Good morning, Sirius." Narcissa was hesitant with greeting her cousin but her voice was stiff too.

It was apparent that they both had been raised to have formal conversations with each other, that they would not show another thing than an aristocratic background. Sirius often pushed that aside but with Narcissa he seemed to be seeping back into his hate filled background.

"The only person that would have fond memories of this place would be _Bella_, as you so fondly call her," Sirius clarified.

"I am not here to speak about those things or her, Sirius. I am here to be away from Lucius and the Dark Lord. I could not stay after Lucius began to abuse me—that was the final straw for me," Narcissa admitted as she played with her wedding ring. It was beautiful and it shimmered, and it was of the finest quality.

Sirius didn't say anything though he did have a look across his face that showed he didn't know what to feel at that very moment. Luna noted that anger was there, very alive and well, and she knew that it was directed towards her uncle. Then there was the look of trouble as though he didn't know what to do.

He sighed and walked up the stairs and out of the room, the door shutting behind him. Luna glanced over at her aunt and saw that she was still looking at her wedding band, as though she wanted to see if it would evaporate suddenly when it came to her deciding to leave her husband.

"I hope that if you truly stay here and you are on our side that one day you will make things right with Sirius. That is my say in this, I will say no more. It is family business that should be talked thoroughly over with only family," Molly finally said before she turned and headed over to the cutting boards again.

Luna knew that it was time to leave her aunt alone.

She drank the rest of her tea, kissed her aunt on her head and then walked out of the kitchen and shut the door behind.

She had barely turned around when she noted in the corner of her eye pale blond locks. She focused on the person that owned those locks and found that her cousin was standing at the top of the stairs. He had sunken cheekbones that made him look even shallower.

"Why does he allow us to be here? I know he hates us," Draco confessed. The silence that had been around them made his voice sound ten times louder than it actually did sound.

"His home life was different than yours, Draco. He stayed away from his family, he is used to being pushed aside and within time he learnt that he could just walk away from them without them asking him to. I believe that there is a part of him that will always hate his family, due to his past."

"Your friends are being decent to me. It's weird," Draco added a moment later as he remembered that Ron was quiet but he allowed him to know that he was listening to him. Ginny had automatically acted as though she was going to slam him against the wall with her hand around his throat and tell him that he better not hurt Luna ever.

Hermione dismissed him, but she was civil with him.

"Life is led by random events that we can and cannot control. They know I love you, that you are held dearly in my heart and so they are willing to give you a chance," Luna reminded him as he slowly headed down the staircase and to the ground floor. He was dressed in his cousin's old jumper and jeans.

If Draco was a rebel and had black shoulder length hair and features that looked more like his cousin then he would have looked like a young version of Sirius. Instead he looked like a downtrodden pureblood that had an ostentatious life.

"Where's Potter?" Draco probed to his cousin as he glanced around, confusion apparent in his features as though he didn't know how to feel with not having the boy next to his cousin and holding his said cousin's hand.

"Harry is with Professor Dumbledore right now. I don't know why but I know that he is safe with him," Luna responded as she headed in the direction of where the parlor room was. There were countless blankets that had been found in the house that were in the parlor room.

The teenagers were often found sitting in the parlor room with the blankets wrapped around them like burritos.

Luna sat down on one of the array of loveseats before she wrapped the blanket around her that was closest to her. Draco sat down next to her and grabbed his own blanket before he wrapped it around him.

Silence greeted them.


	69. promotion

**69:** _promotion_

**Mr. Weasley **didn't stay within the presence of Narcissa and Draco Malfoy for very long. Not that he really had time to do so with his Ministry job, but from the long history that he had with the other pureblood family it was obvious that he didn't care for the family. He didn't think that Narcissa and Draco deserved to be treated this way, of course, but he often didn't say anything around them and when he had an opportunity to walk away he would.

Luna was sitting on the old rug that was in the parlor room and was knitting a beautiful emerald sweater for her aunt when they heard the hurried footsteps entering through the foyer. She turned her head and saw that Arthur Weasley was stumbling through the house with excitement on his features.

He seemed to have been given something that was good news, truly good news. Luna hadn't seen him this happy in a long time. She knew that Mr. Weasley loved his family and his family's friends. She just hadn't seen this twinkle in his eye for as long as she could remember.

"I got a promotion!" Mr. Weasley told her as he entered the parlor room. In the corner of her eye Luna could see that Aunt Narcissa was occupying an emerald green loveseat that had seen better years.

"That's good news, Mr. Weasley," Luna responded as she smiled at him, her eyes gently looking at the tall and scrawny man in front of her. His hair was thinner than it should be at his age and his residing hairline just continued to prove that he was aging faster than he should.

"I'm working in the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defense spells and protective objects," he boasted and from the shuffling of movement behind Luna it allowed them to know that Narcissa was moving.

"C-Congratulations, Arthur."

Luna turned her head towards her aunt, seeing that Aunt Narcissa had a look of discomfort appear on her face. She hadn't really conversed with either the husband or wife of the family that was considered blood traitors towards the whole pureblood society—well at least the ones that were true purists.

Mr. Weasley blinked a few times, having not thought that the elegant woman would even congratulate him for getting a promotion. He knew that she didn't work and that the woman never had to work a day in her life. She wasn't like him, not at all, yet she acknowledged that he had gotten a promotion and had stiffly given her congrats towards the man.

"Thank you, Narcissa. That means a lot to me. Molly wants us **all** to come to The Burrow so that we can celebrate the good news. I came over so that I could tell you," Arthur admitted.

Narcissa shuffled awkwardly on the loveseat as though she thought that she was going to be an inconvenience. "That is very considerate of you, Arthur. I, along with my son, know that we are not liked enough to be invited into your home. I don't want to ruin the festivities."

Arthur on the other hand shook his head, "no, I think that you and Draco need to come, Narcissa. I'm certain that some fresh air and a friendlier abode will make you feel more welcomed in our presence."

Luna stood up from her spot at the rug and sat her sweater down gently before she turned and looked at her aunt. She headed over to the loveseat and sat down before she reached her hands out and took her aunt's hands in hers. The woman had not one winkle on her hands nor did she have one chipped nail. Her hands were still as perfect as they always had been in the past.

"I think that it would be rude of us to not go, Aunt Narcissa. I know that you should not stay within this house all the time. I think that you'll like The Burrow, it's much different than the manor and this house."

In the end Narcissa did go to The Burrow, her eyes scanned over the vivid trees and the blades of grass and the wild flowers. They took her breath away; she had not been in a place this calm and peaceful in a long time. All she knew was cobbled pathways and perfect hedges and so much dark hues.

The house in front of her was very odd but Narcissa felt as though some of the weight that was on her shoulders was being lifted off. She glanced over at her son, seeing that he was taking everything in and that he had a look of weariness too.

Though when her niece grabbed her son's hand and skipped them towards the group of red heads that were around a wooden picnic table a part of her wished that her son had been raised in such a more carefree manner, he'd still be a dignified pureblood of course, but he could have at least had true friends.

"Why's your mother still standing over there?" Ron probed as he ate some of the food that was in front of him. It was supposed to be saved for later but at the moment neither of his parents happened to be outside.

Draco lifted his eyebrow at the atrocious manner of eating that the red headed boy had but instead of saying, "why do you think you can talk to me?" he instead glanced over at his mother.

"Mother and I have been conditioned to be different than you. We are not allowed to welcome such eccentric behavior from others, I mean in the terms of being lively, and we know to still our tongue when needed be," Draco finally drawled out and Ron furled his eyebrows again.

Ginny sighed as she headed up to the table and smacked Ron upside the head, before she rolled her eyes. "Leave him be, Ronald. We're lucky enough that he's here and that he hasn't insulted everything that we are yet."

"Thank you, Ginny," Draco muttered as a red flush appeared on his face. Luna could tell that he was embarrassed and of anything he didn't want to be to begin with. He didn't know how to act around them.

Ginny nodded her head, "you're welcome, Draco. If Luna loves you and cares about you then there is something that I will be able to agree and accept. You will have a long time to gain our complete trust, and you and your mother know that, but within time I am certain that we will all be friends."

Luna turned her head towards where her aunt was, before sighing and finding that her aunt still hadn't moved from her spot. She was looking around nervously and it was almost as though she expected to find out that if she touched even one foot forward she would be sent off to Azkaban.

"Aunt Narcissa, please come. I am certain that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would like to talk to you," Luna called out and watched as her aunt had a conflicted look on her face before she nodded her head.

Stepping forward, Narcissa Malfoy continued onward as though knowing that if she stopped again she would probably turn on her heel and Apparate away. She didn't want to be here and cause any problems.

The fact that they had allowed them to stay at Grimmauld and didn't just turn them away still was stuck deep within her mind. She knew that she should feel grateful and in a way she did but another part of her felt shame. What had she done to deserve this? She was not a follower of the Dark Lord; her husband was the one who followed him. She did not ask to raise her son in this dark world now.

The front door of The Burrow opened and out stepped out Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Molly was wiping her hands off with a rag and when she saw Narcissa she smiled warmly at her, "thank you for coming, Narcissa. Come in, I've made some biscuits and some tea."

Narcissa looked over her head at her son and saw that he was sitting with the Weasleys and his cousin. As long as Luna was with him then she was certain that she could leave him alone. She had yet to see Harry Potter here.

"Oh, forgot to say, Mum got a letter from Dumbledore. Apparently he said that he was coming by later today with Harry, since his aunt and uncle were giving him some problems. I don't know how he puts up with them," Ron informed them as he picked up a roll of bread before eating it.

"I wish that Neville could come, Gran won't let him. She doesn't like him going out that much during summer, especially with what is happening in the wizarding world now," Ginny announced. She looked over at Draco, "I don't mean to be rude towards you Draco but he'd probably not come with you here either."

Draco shrugged his shoulders as though to let her know that he didn't feel hurt by it or anything. Ron on the other hand scrunched his features together, "I don't get why you are just calling him Draco, that's weird. Why not call him Malfoy?"

"Unless he says that I cannot call him Draco then I do not see a reason to continue calling him by his surname. We will see him a lot more, and he _is _Luna's cousin. It would be rude to call him by his surname," Ginny responded as she rolled her eyes at him—as though she was thinking that she had an imbecile of a brother.

Luna merely smiled as she turned to look at her cousin. He was looking at Ginny with surprise on his face. Luna knew that he never thought that someone would defend him that wasn't his cousin, someone who had family that was ridiculed and degraded by his family.

"Thank you, Ginny," was all that Draco said before he got up from his spot at the picnic table and made his way into The Burrow, as though letting them know that he was thankful for having someone acknowledge him and not instantly hate him that wasn't his cousin.

A few hours after the mother and son arrived at The Borrow Luna looked up from the comfortable couch that she was sitting on when she saw that Harry had come through the Floo network. She smiled largely and jumped up before she ran to him. She wrapped her arms around him and he scooped her up in his arms before he held her and soaked in her presence.

"Hello, love. Have you had a good time?" Harry probed to her and Luna nodded her head, before he put her down and looked at Mrs. Malfoy sitting at the kitchen table and Draco sitting next to his mother.

"It means a lot to Luna that you came. She really loves you," Harry spoke and both Malfoy's looked down before they nodded their heads—as though letting him know that they knew how much Luna treasured them.

"Thank you, um…" Mrs. Malfoy drifted off as though she didn't know if she should call him by his first name. No one in her family had called him by his first name, only by his surname.

"You may call me Harry, if you wish. After all you are family," Harry admitted as he looked at Luna lovingly.

"Thank you, Harry," Narcissa finally answered him and Harry nodded his head at her along with Draco as though to let them that know that he was fine with them calling him by his first name.

Luna took his hand in hers and began to pull him in the direction of where her aunt and cousin were. As he sat down he took in all that she was talking about when it came to her aunt and cousin. There weren't that many stories, after all neither the mother nor son had any nice childhood memories of their own.

The most entertaining thing about the visit was when Bill and Fleur appeared through the front door and Fleur showed everyone the engagement ring that was on her finger. In seconds Molly Weasley fell backwards—having passed out when she was welcomed with the knowledge that the woman was going to be her daughter-in-law.


	70. oh Captain, my Captain

**70:** oh Captain, my Captain

**As much as **everyone tried to think positive shortly after Harry came back (he wouldn't tell them what it was he had done with Professor Dumbledore) it didn't take that long for them to know bad news on Harry's sixteenth birthday. They were welcomed with Headmaster Karkaroff dead, Fortescue and Ollivander gone, having just disappeared.

The Order felt something bad stirring in the air and they knew that this was not going to be the last time that they would hear bad news.

It had been awhile since they had found out that Amelia Bones was dead, and that Emmeline Vance was dead. Luna and the others felt sorry for Susan Bones, knowing that she was devastated when she had found out that her aunt had died.

Harry's birthday wasn't as light filled and happy as they wanted it to be. He received presents of course and he cherished each and every one of them. Luna had teamed up with Mrs. Weasley to make a beautiful birthday cake since the girl had made Harry cakes in the past so that was her birthday present for Harry.

Now though Luna was sitting in the field with Harry, leaning against his shoulder and arm as she made daisy chains. She always loved to do this whenever she had the chance to do so. Harry would often come back into The Burrow with daisy chains.

Luna was staying at The Burrow now, ever since she had come and visited the Weasley family while they celebrated Mr. Weasley's promotion and Fleur and Bill's engagement. Aunt Narcissa and Draco stayed in the Black house, despite the fact that they seemed to think that the place was a prison than anything else.

Draco rarely visited but when he did he often stuck to Luna's side, reading some interesting novels while she told Harry and her cousin different animals that she had seen recently. Her cousin was respectful with the made up animals, though he obviously did not believe in them.

Luna made a funny face as she made sure that the daises were in perfect condition before she surprised both her Harry and Draco by putting the flower chain upon Draco's head. He looked up at the daisy chain, cross eyed as soon as she pulled away from him. He didn't pull it off his head though.

"I wish that Aunt Narcissa would come and visit," Luna admitted after a moment and Harry put his hand in hers—as though letting her know that he was here for her. "I know that this is a difficult time for her, but I wish that she could come and visit me. I miss her."

"Mother does not adjust to change well and neither do I. She often stays in her bedroom as much as she can. It is apparent that she doesn't know what to do, since she had to leave her old life behind. She knows that Sirius just puts up with her because of you, and you cannot deny that, Luna." Draco looked up and turned his head at Luna, finding that she had another saddened look upon her face.

"I know it," Luna admitted as she looked towards The Burrow again. The front door was open and allowed them to know that they were welcomed into the house anytime that they liked to come in.

"I hope that he can give her a second chance though. I believe that there should be second chances for some people. I am certain that if they sat down and talked to each other and explained how they didn't want to be tied down to their roots anymore then they could find some comfort in each other," Luna added after a moment before she stood up and glanced up at the sky. She put her hand up so that it could cover over her eyes—she studied the sky before she smiled.

"The school owls are here," she announced as the specks that resembled the shapes of owls appeared before them. They flew down and dropped their envelopes in the three teenagers' hands before they flew off.

Luna plopped back down before she opened her envelope. She read the letter that the deputy headmistress had written out for her—it said the same thing as it usually did, addressed what year she was now and that she was going to have to pay attention to her classes a lot more now than before (this was an overall address towards each and every student) for their future exams.

She craned her head to the side when she saw that Draco and Harry were looking at Harry's envelope. "What's wrong, Harry?"

Harry shook his head and seemed as though he was getting out of a stupor before he turned and looked at Luna. "I'm Quidditch Captain."

Luna smiled warmer at him, "that's wonderful news, Harry. I'm very proud of you, you deserve it."

Draco on the other hand merely folded his arms against his chest and looked off to the side—as though he couldn't believe that Harry had been given the title of captain for his own House Quidditch team but Draco couldn't be the captain for his own Quidditch team in Slytherin.

"I don't know how I'm going to balance everything though. Madam Pomfrey found out about me wanting to be a Healer and now she wants to come to the infirmary at least three times a week after classes so that she can show me the ropes. I'm grateful for the opportunity but with classes and basically an internship and all that's happening with Voldemort—"

Draco flinched harshly and his face became increasingly paler than it already was, "don't call him that."

Harry gave a look at Draco as though he was contemplating just saying the forbidden name of the dark wizard once more to see Draco look terrified but he knew that it would only make Luna upset.

"Harry and I are comfortable with calling him that but for those who are not comfortable calling him that name we should respect." Luna turned her head towards Harry and he sighed before he nodded, "yeah, sorry, Malfoy."

Even though Harry let Narcissa know that she could call him Harry it was obvious that Draco and he were going to just use their surnames because that's how things were for them growing up. Luna knew that and she didn't demand for them to call each other by their first names.

"Too bad we aren't in the same House, Potter, I would have taken that captain position from you without a problem," Draco finally commented and Harry merely acknowledged him before Luna made her way towards the house.

She left her quilt behind her, knowing that she might come back out and lay on the quilt. Harry and Draco were walking behind her, next to each other but not too far away from Luna. Draco was still wearing the daisy crown on his head, which only make his light features even more light.

He did not look like an angel. He was not some perfect looking boy. He was handsome, yes he was extremely handsome but he had harsh features. He didn't have soft eyes or pout like lips. He did have slightly bigger eyes and his nose was simple and his mouth was thinner but he wasn't this beautiful and unattainable boy that would reveal to be an angel in the end.

Luna entered The Burrow and turned to see that Ginny was glaring at a textbook that was near her. Luna could tell that it was a normal Muggle textbook and that Ginny had to go to the Muggle school that closest to the town.

She must have had to buy the textbook for her next year. Mr. Weasley often wanted to go with her and pick out the material but Mrs. Weasley would often go into town to get the textbooks and other assortment of Muggle education tools that were needed for the school year.

Ginny had gotten so used to going to a normal school that she sometimes forgot about the different types of classes she would have been introduced to if she had been at Hogwarts now. She did though fantasize about them plenty of times when she would be reminded and she would say what classes she would have taken.

When Harry came into The Burrow with the captain badge Ginny had jumped up from her spot and rushed over to Harry. "You got captain! I'm so jealous!"

Ginny snatched the badge from Harry's hand and held it high in front of her before she let it shine from the sunlight that was streaming in. She nodded her head after a moment and gave it back to Harry, "it's authentic."

Draco scrunched his features at the girl, as though he didn't know what to make of the strange girl before he reminded himself that his cousin was weirder than the ginger weaselette (as he so trademarked for her nickname).

Molly came in through the front door with some laundry that she had brought down from a clothes line outside. She almost dropped the load of laundry when she saw the badge that was in Harry's hand. "Ah! I'm so happy, Harry!"

This time both Harry and Draco flinched and almost brought their hands up to cover their eardrums from the loud monstrosity that was Molly Weasley. They didn't have to do so though because Mrs. Weasley rushed forward and scooped Harry up and squeezed him.

Once she sat him down she turned to look at Draco. He almost looked as though he wanted to turn on his heels and sprint towards the hills to get away from the woman and the whole family. "What about you, Draco, dear, did you get captain for Slytherin?"

Draco blinked a few times, having not realized that the woman had addressed him and wondered if he had gotten captain. He shook his head, "No, I didn't get captain."

Molly gave him a sad but reassuring smile, "well, you never know, dear. Maybe you'll get to be one your seventh year! That would be a wonderful year for you, to have your last Hogwarts year as a Quidditch captain."

Draco thought for a moment before he nodded his head, "thanks, Mrs. Weasley. I don't—"

Molly plucked a bread roll that sat off to the side on one of the countless countertops before she stuck it into Draco's mouth, "hush, and eat. You are too skinny; you need to come over more often."

Luna giggled as she noted that Draco had a stunned look on his face. He pulled the bread roll out of his mouth though he did take a bite of it and found that it had to be one of the best bread rolls he ever had. He shrugged his shoulders and then took another bite of it, deciding that he would enjoy being spoiled by Mrs. Weasley if it meant getting more of these delicious bread rolls.

Meanwhile Harry stood off to the side and peering at the Quidditch captain badge in his hand—wondering why Professor Dumbledore would give him the position, and if he really did deserve it.


	71. where loyalties lie

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**71:** where loyalties lie

** Luna **woke a few days before she would go to Diagon Alley to get her supplies for school only to see that Mrs. Weasley had an envelope. The wax symbol of the Malfoy crest was holding the flap down when she had gone downstairs to get her something to eat for breakfast.

For a moment she wondered if it was her uncle that was messaging her and demanding that she tell him where her aunt and cousin were. She wouldn't have told him where they were, and she knew that despite Sirius not really caring for them he wouldn't tell them either where Narcissa and Draco Malfoy were.

She hurried over to the woman and Molly Weasley merely gave the letter to Luna before the said girl sat down at one of the many assortments of chairs that were placed around the long table. She opened the envelope and pulled the letter out—finding that it was written in her aunt's perfect handwriting.

_Dear Luna,_

_ I and your cousin, Draco, have decided that we should head back to the Dark Lord and your uncle so that we cannot raise anymore suspicions. I am certain that my sister will try and have the Dark Lord kill her own sister and nephew on the spot if we appear before him—if not being allowed to be the one to us._

_ Severus has made sure to teach us Occlumency, as he promised he would, and although we will never be as gifted as he is in the field we are certain that we are strong enough with it that the Dark Lord will not know where we have been. If it were not for him I am certain that Draco and I would long be dead by now._

_ Word has gotten around with the circle of Death Eaters when it comes to how your uncle might have been the one who would have us want to run away and I have been told that your uncle is being tortured for letting us leave. _

_ The Dark Lord has already put Draco on the top of the list when it comes to treasured prospects of future Death Eaters. Draco will become one and I know that he will have to if he wants to stay alive and if he wants me alive._

_ I am proud that you have found a good man to be with, my Luna. He is a wonderful young man and I hope and pray that he will be the one who will destroy the Dark Lord so that Draco and I will not have to live through this hell anymore._

_ I want you to know though that Draco and I have decided that we be working for the Order as spies. I will find ways to give information to Severus and he will give the information to the Order._

_ Draco will report to you, you will have to be careful though when it comes to your secret meetings. I am certain that Pansy Parkinson will come and try to spy on you. Word has already spread that you and Draco are cousins._

_ I am certain that your fifth year at Hogwarts is going to be filled with drama and you will have to ignore it all. I also know that you must be more aware, I am certain that there will be cases where students of Slytherin are going to try and have their family members kidnap you or at least drug you at school so that they may get moments to search you to find out what you know._

_ I will not be able to write to you very often, if at all. I know though that I had to tell you so that you would know what has happened to us._

_ I love you my darling Luna. I wish that things were different but we have made our own paths in our life._

_ Love,_

_ Aunt Narcissa_

Luna sat there frozen as she looked at the letter that was in her hands. She never thought that her aunt and cousin would actually join the Order. She thought that they would end up going back and that would be it. They would have too many fears at the thought of them even joining the light side.

Looking up from the letter, she wordlessly handed it to Mrs. Weasley. She looked at the girl and Luna nodded her head—as though letting her know that she had permission to read what the odd girl's aunt had written for her.

Sitting patiently at the dining table, Luna watched as the pale and pudgy woman read each word with full attention. She read each word with a hunger that could amount to nothing more than the need to figure out what was going to happen with Narcissa and Draco Malfoy.

When she was done she snapped her head up from the letter and looked at Luna. Then she felt her shoulders loosen and she let the letter drop down onto the dining table. "I must admit, my dear, that I thought that they were not brave enough to join us. I'm happy though that they have joined us. They know that it will be dangerous but I will be for them if they ever need me."

Upstairs they could hear the sound of feet moving around. Then the pairs of feet thundered down the stairs and she was greeted with Ginny and Ron looking at their friend and mother standing at the dining table.

"Is it true? Have they joined the Order?" Ginny burst out, causing Molly Weasley to narrow her eyes at her. "Ginevra Weasley I raised you better than having that nasty habit of eavesdropping!"

"Sorry, Mum. Is it true though? Did they join the Order?" Ginny persisted and her mother sighed before she nodded her head, "it is true. They have joined the Order, they know the risks."

Luna looked at both Ginny and Ron before she spoke, "Pansy has told the purebloods in the Dark Lord's circle that I am Draco's cousin. We are certain that there will be attempts of the Slytherins wanting to kidnap me or at least drug me so that they can see if they can find anything that will be useful for You-Know-Who.

"I am also aware that they know about me and Harry, and I am certain that they knew from the beginning. They've just been waiting for the orders from You-Know-Who to kidnap me. We have yet to receive any orders or attempts yet but I am certain that we at least will have one."

"Bloody hell, wait until Harry hears about this, I'm certain that he'll blow a casket!" Ron blurted out, which in return made Ginny elbow him sharply in the arm. He hissed and rubbed his elbow before he glared at Ginny.

"You enjoy my pain, don't you?" Ron grumbled and Ginny merely rolled her eyes, "I do but I only give it to you when you need to it."

"You hurt me all the bloody time!"

"Then that should let you know to stop being dumb and know when to shut your mouth," Ginny easily responded and Ron went to open his mouth to retort only for Molly Weasley to clear her throat.

"That is enough of that! You both know better than to bicker like children again! You are teenagers, act like it," she commanded and they both grumbled but agreed with her when they were given another pointed look by their mother.

Luna and they were welcomed with the reaction from Harry when he came over and was told what had happened. He read the letter and then turned to Luna, saying, "I am glad that they chose true family instead of that definition of family. I am also glad with the knowledge that Draco will also try to make sure that no one will try to kidnap or drug you. He being in Slytherin will help us."

Relief flooded through Luna's being at the fact that her Harry was being supportive with the information and that he was giving trust to Draco fully now that he knew that he was a spy for the Order to completely protect Luna from the other Slytherins—though they knew he still would have done so if he hadn't joined.

This just made it concrete.

They would have to go through the boy-who-lived and the prince of Slytherin to get Luna Lovegood.


	72. the snake of darkness

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**72:** the snake of darkness

**Professor Snape** ended up getting what he had wanted for so many years. He was given the position of being the defense against the dark arts professor but he had his potions position taken from him. Harry had told them all that Professor Slughorn was going to be the potions professor and that the man had been a professor there when his dad was in Hogwarts.

Luna was sitting in the train compartment with her friends, noticing how Hermione was clutching Crookshanks to her. She was rapidly running her fingers through the cat's fur and she had a look of stress coat across her features. She hadn't received word from Ambrose in weeks and wondered if she had done something wrong, if she could have prevented Mandy's death.

Neville was sitting next to Hermione and Trevor was plopped on his head, croaking whenever he would look at someone new. Ron was sitting on the other side of Neville and he was reading an interesting book that Harry was leant to him that was originally from Sirius.

Harry sat next to Luna and she leant against him, letting him run his fingers through her curls. She had cried too many tears lately, she was thankful that the skies were clear and that there weren't any rainstorms that were happening. It had rained quite a lot the weeks after Mandy had died.

In complete anguish the family had decided to move from England to America so that they wouldn't have to stay in the country where they would be reminded of Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

All they wanted was a fresh start.

Luna hoped that they would have a fresh start.

Luna quietly spoke, breaking the silence in the room, "I don't think that we will be seeing Blaise this year, I believe that he will not be in this school anymore. I am certain that he is upset about what had happened with Mandy. If he is here though I think that he will just be by his own self, having had his first girlfriend being murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange."

Everyone in the compartment except for Luna flinched at the memory of the short haired young woman that had been killed by Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry was happy that at least Luna would never be haunted by the sight of her best friend being murdered by Bellatrix.

No one knew how to feel about what Luna had said. They didn't really know much when it came to Blaise. They knew that the only person that could describe the pureblood would be Draco but they also knew that they would have to stay far away from him as possible.

He was a new valuable asset to the Order and they didn't need to try and converse with him unless he had decided to be the one who would start the conversation.

The rest of the train ride was filled with awkwardness and everyone knew that it would take awhile for them get back into routine. Being in a small train compartment heading to their school was not the place for them to feel as though they could relax and have normal conversations.

Once upon a time they might have but not now.

They knew that it wasn't possible.

When they entered the Great Hall they were indeed greeted with Professor Snape sitting in his normal spot and Professor Slughorn was sitting next to Professor Dumbledore, on the right side of Professor Dumbledore, while Professor McGonagall took her normal spot at the left side of the headmaster.

Luna sat at the Ravenclaw table, finding that students were glancing at her and that they had saddened looks towards her. She was greeted with so many condolences and she took them all with politeness. She wasn't used to having condolences sent her way towards either her or her father.

When her mum had passed away the only person that gave their condolences would happen to be Mrs. Weasley. She had said the whole family was devastated over the loss of Pandora Lovegood but even at nine Luna knew enough to know that Mrs. Weasley did not spend many visits with her own mum.

Pandora Lovegood and Molly Weasley were not those kinds of people that were best friend neighbors. They weren't the ones that would have meals with each other's families while talking about the news of the neighborhood. No they weren't like that, and there was no reason in their eyes why they should be incredibly close to each other since they didn't have anything in common.

Professor Slughorn was the complete opposite of Professor Snape it seemed like. Where Professor Slughorn had praised Harry Potter, the Golden Trio, and held Luna in high regards since she was Harry's girlfriend, Professor Snape had the same original opinion towards Harry and the others.

Harry didn't have complete hatred towards Professor Snape anymore, especially since he had the pensive memory of a teenage version of Severus Snape being tormented by his teenage version of James.

Luna didn't raise her hand to answer the questions that Professor Slughorn had towards everyone, but she still found herself being chosen so that she would have her Ravenclaw wit displayed.

She was often greeted with the once retired professor applauding her and saying things like—"no wonder Mr. Potter is charmed by you!"—"the only thing that would make this better would be if you were a Slytherin!"—which even made the Slytherins that were in the classroom furl their eyebrows at the last comment, wondering why Professor Slughorn would even try to imagine Luna Lovegood being in Slytherin.

Today though Professor Slughorn had yet to call her and for once Luna hoped that she wouldn't be called out just so that she would be put in display for being Harry Potter's girlfriend. They had finally allowed people to say that they were boyfriend and girlfriend despite Luna not caring about there being a label for her and Harry.

At least not until they would get married, once they got married she was certain that she would proudly walk around saying that she was married to Harry Potter. She could imagine herself marrying him that much was certain, but she was not certain when he would ask her to marry him.

When the class ended Luna headed towards Professor Snape's classroom, thankful at least that she didn't have to answer any questions that were from Professor Slughorn. She had already had the man stop her after class at least once every week in order to ask her if she wouldn't mind visiting his office with Harry sometime so that they could converse about Harry managing to conquer Voldemort once more.

As soon as Luna entered the defense against the dark arts classroom she was welcomed with Professor Snape standing in the front of the classroom at his desk. He peered at all the students that entered, his eyes flickering over each student and pausing when they landed on Luna.

He made a slight nod as though to let Luna knew that Draco was indeed all right and that nothing bad had happened to him. It made her feel reassurance as she sat down and began to pull out what she needed for the class.

She grabbed a fresh parchment piece of paper and wrote down what section that they were going over from the board in front of her.

Professor Snape let his eyes land on each and every one of his students before he cleared his throat, "today I have decided to test your intelligence, especially from the Ravenclaws for their oh so cleverness, on some of the defense spells that we have been going over. I will ask of each student to demonstrate a defense spell before performing the spell. If you do not do it properly then I will fail you and you will be even more of a disappointment."

Luna watched as some of the Ravenclaws around her were trembling at the calculating stare that their professor was giving them. The Hufflepuffs were worse for wear. They were the ones that were messing up the whole time and Professor Snape looked as though he was going to hit his hand against his head.

The class ended faster than Luna imagined and she was about to gather things together when she glanced over at her professor again. Professor Snape was heading towards where his office was and Luna craned her head to the side before she began to follow after him.

"Miss Lovegood, why must you thin my patience even more? What is it that has made you want to be in my presence longer than necessary?" Professor Snape turned so that he was facing her directly and as the last students disappeared from the classroom he sighed and let his shoulders slump.

"Congratulations on getting to be the new defense against the dark arts professor. I apologize for not congratulating you earlier," Luna admitted as she stood there and Professor Snape blinked a few times, still finding himself surprised with the sight of Luna Lovegood doing something that he knew no one would do for him.

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood."

Luna nodded her head, "of course, Professor Snape. I will see you the next time that we are meant to run into each other. Goodbye."

Luna spun on her heels and walked out of the classroom, barely having made her way down the hallway when she heard the sound of footsteps thundering heavily in her direction. She craned her head to the side and glanced over her shoulder blade, finding that Professor Slughorn was heading in her direction.

"Ah, Miss Lovegood, it seems as though I am in luck! I had forgotten to speak to you after class earlier!" Professor Slughorn proclaimed as Luna sighed, before he reached her and leant forward to putting his hands onto his knees—as though letting her know that he was heaving from one of the few moments of exercise.

"Hello, Professor Slughorn. I apologize but I must head to my next class." Luna turned so that she could head forward again, knowing that she could only deal with Professor Slughorn for so long.

"Ah, but Miss Lovegood I request that you extend my invitation for you to come to my party with Mr. Potter. I am certain that you will be the center of attention!" Professor Slughorn shot her a large smile but Luna kindly shook her head.

"I am sorry, Professor Slughorn, but I know my Harry enough that he does not care to go to parties. I don't care to go to parties either, especially ones that seem to be designed for collecting prized students."

Professor Slughorn's face became brighter than she ever saw, she was certain that he was more embarrassed than angered for being called out.

"I really do have to go, Professor Slughorn. Goodbye for now." Luna spun on her heels and headed towards the direction of where her next class was—leaving a very embarrassed Professor Slughorn behind her.


	73. try-outs

**HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME**

**73:**_ try-outs_

**Luna was proud **of Harry, she was always proud of her Harry.

She still knew though that Draco deserved to be the Captain for Slytherin. He worked very hard on the team, even though he did buy his way onto the team with the broomsticks. He had passion towards the sport and though Luna did not care for Quidditch she knew that it meant the world for her cousin.

She would have sat in one of the stands to watch the Slytherins practice if she knew that she could but she knew that she would have to keep herself away from her cousin. She had done so throughout her whole life, but now that he was in her life and was fighting for the light side it made her even determined to make sure that in the end they were all together.

She wouldn't have to keep herself away from him anymore.

Hermione was sitting next to Luna at the moment, while Hermione was in comfortable cozy clothes that were representing Gryffindor; Luna was dressed in just white and gray colors. The toboggan on her head that changed colors with her mood though was the only thing that was colorful on her head.

She had decided to go more mundane today because she knew that she didn't want to distract the potential new Quidditch players with her flashing clothes. So she had decided on the toboggan, since it wasn't bright colors unlike some of her mood changing fabric ensembles she had in the past.

"The sky is quite nice today, I am happy. I hope that Harry will not be too stressed; after all, being the Quidditch Captain is a very stressful job. I just wish that Draco could have been given the same position in Slytherin," Luna admitted, which in return made Hermione arch her eyebrow up.

"How did he take it?" Hermione turned so that she was looking through her satchel; Luna sighed and peered forward to see her Harry standing on the pitch with all the different people that were trying out for their positions.

"He was upset, where Harry has the talent from his father, Draco doesn't. Draco has trained his whole life, since he had known what Quidditch is, so that he can one day be Slytherin's Quidditch Captain. It is quite sad, I feel sorry for him," Luna supplied. Hermione frowned at what her best friend's girlfriend said before she nodded her head—allowing Luna to know that she had agreed.

"Fate has been really weird for the both of them. Though it will take some time for me and Draco to become friends, I have taken the higher road and forgiven him. I know that things are quite awkward between us, that much is true, but I do feel sorry that he did not at least get to be Captain," Hermione admitted, which would have surprised anyone else other than Luna.

"I am proud of Draco though."

Behind them they could hear someone scoff, which made them turn to see that Cormac Mclaggen was standing behind them and had his broomstick with him. He looked down at them and shook his head. He had been known for being a pretty boy, at least that was what he thought, but he was also very egotistic.

"I'm sorry, but did we summon you here? I think that potentially insulting Luna's _cousin _couldn't help you try to brownnose the captain," Hermione hissed, only for Cormac to roll his eyes.

"You don't intimidate me, sweetheart. I don't have to brownnose Potter in order to actually get to be Keeper. I don't have to justify the truth either, when it comes to your precious cousin. We all know that Malfoy is a piece of shit."

Luna stood straight up and turned so that she was facing Cormac Mclaggan.

Pointing her wand directly at Cormac Mclaggan, Luna simply cast out a spell, "Incarcerous."

Rope shot out and wrapped around the 'potential Keeper' that wouldn't be sorely missed, and both girls watched as the boy stumbled back and fell onto the wooden bleacher behind him. His broom had fallen next to him in a thud, which only added to obvious fact that he thought about flying out from the stand and landing in front of Harry in order to impress him.

"No one talks about my cousin like that. I am proud of Draco being my cousin, that is a warning to you," Luna hissed before she spun on her heels and made her way to the staircase. Hermione followed after her, while behind them they heard Cormac Mclaggan spitting out cuss words to the fifth year and sixth year.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs they turned so that they were focusing on Harry as he asked for the Chaser to go up in the air and show him what their potential was. They all knew though that Katie Bell would end up being one of the people that would be a Chaser.

Harry glanced over his shoulder, as though he was going to ask them what was wrong, only for them to hear the sound of Katie Bell laughing in the air. Harry sighed and turned to peer up at her, "what are you laughing at, Bell?"

"Mclaggan is up here, tied up. Apparently he pissed off Lovegood or Granger. For that I applaud you!"

Harry turned so that he looked at the both of them, "explain, please." He reached his hand up and pulled off his glasses before he rubbed his forehead.

"He insulted Draco. I wanted him to know that he cannot get away with insulting my cousin. I know that we said that we wouldn't draw any attention towards the fact that Draco is my cousin but he has gone through a lot lately and I couldn't sit there and let him insult Draco," Luna provided to Harry, which made Harry slowly put his glasses on and blink at her.

"Am I hearing that right? It was you, Lune…that cast a spell on Mclaggan?" Harry glanced at Hermione, as though he was waiting for her to confess that Luna was taking the fault for it even though it was Hermione that had cast the spell.

"It's true, Harry. I saw it with my own eyes. It's very out of character for Luna," Hermione admitted, only for Luna to frown and look down at the grass. It made both sixth years feel sorry for her.

Harry leant forward and wrapped his arms around Luna, making sure that she was snuggled into his hold before he kissed her on the head. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, love. I guess I'm just going to be on my toes for the rest of our lives, aren't I?"

Luna slowly pulled away from him before she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, "thank you for not getting mad at me, Harry. I will make sure to not do that again, though I can't promise it."

Harry rolled his eyes, "well at least it was just Mclaggan. Now I don't have to deal with him doing try-outs. You were doing me a favor."

"More like _all _of us a favor!" one of the competitors cried out behind them. Luna dismissed them and pulled completely away from Harry this time.

"I'm going back in the castle. Show them no mercy," Luna spoke, earning a few blinks in surprise from Harry and even Hermione—as though the older girl hadn't expected that Luna would say something like that.

Said silly child-like girl giggled some, amused that saying things like that were out of the norm when it came to whom she was. She quite liked the reaction that everyone had when she had made sure to let Cormac Mclaggan know that he couldn't insult her cousin around her.

As it would turn out it was funny when word had spread about what had happened during the Gryffindor tryouts when it came to getting their new players. The fact that Harry Potter's strange girlfriend had no hesitance to fire a spell at anyone who disrespected her cousin was more surprising than when they had actually heard that Harry Potter could see that Aribta Comatti that she claimed to see.

To say the least when the day was draining away and night would be filled up, Luna entered the Great Hall with Hermione next to her and Harry on her other side. Ron was in the background, worried if he was going to become the Keeper or not.

"I am so proud of you, Harry!" Luna beamed at him as she leant over and rest her head against his arm. He wrapped his arm around her and held her closer; their school shoes were gleaming from being cleaned.

"You're always proud of me, Lune," Harry responded, which made Luna roll her eyes and shrug. "I ought to be! I adore you, Harry! I would want nothing more than to remind you that I'm proud of you."

In the corner of their eye they could see that Draco's right eye was twitching and he held his fork in his hand in a death like grip. Blaise indeed wasn't here, hadn't been here since school began, so he was now even more secluded to his little posse that he had created.

Draco stopped twitching his eye when he saw Luna and Harry off to the side. He studied them and then sighed before he stabbed his fork into the steak that was in front of him. Sauce and oil splattered from the meat and began to create a pool on the plate that it was sat on.

Luna turned away from Draco and leant up on as high as she could to kiss Harry on the forehead. He was still a lot taller than her, but then again Luna was quite a small girl to begin with in height.

"I'll see you later, my love," Luna promised as she pulled away from him, skipping in the direction of where the Ravenclaw table was. As soon as she sat down she was congratulated by the majority of the students that were around her, all because of the fact that she had cast a spell on Cormac Mclaggan.

No one could really care that she had done it because Cormac Mclaggan had insulted Draco; they just liked the fact that she had even done the spell and made it where Cormac Mclaggan wouldn't do that well when he practiced.

Inwardly Luna shrugged but as she began to pile her plate up with food and ate some, she knew that she would do it all over again if it meant making sure that no one could talk that way about Draco again….well say it in front of her at the least.


	74. shall we party, my dear?

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_75:_**_ shall we party, my dear?_

** As it would turn out **Professor Dumbledore needed Harry to get on Professor Slughorn's good side, despite the fact that Luna and Harry did not care for the former Head of Slytherin. They had yet to convince Draco that Professor Slughorn wasn't worth any attention.

Hermione was invited to go to Slughorn's party but she didn't have anyone to go with, nor was there anyone that she wanted to go to the party with. She was still upset with Ambrose and Luna could tell that the Muggle-born could only wait for so long before she would get irritated and tell Ambrose that she couldn't deal with this silence anymore. She would be done with them completely, not even a friendship.

On the night of the party, Luna dressed in spangled silver robes that cast a soft and faerie like essence around her. She had surely stunned and bewitched everyone that looked at her, it was apparent that everyone now knew that Luna was truly a beautiful creature indeed.

With her hair softly curled and little star hair jewels in different places of her hair, Luna looked like a walking star that had fallen onto Earth. The soft makeup that Hermione put on her with the help of some of the Ravenclaw girls (when Luna came back all of the Ravenclaw girls managed to give Luna a chance, especially when they had heard that Mandy had died) made her look even more stunning.

Luna knew they were doing it out of pity, but she didn't mind. She thought that it was still kind that they would help her with makeup and getting done up so that she could go to Professor Slughorn's party.

Leaving the dorms and heading down the stairs, Luna felt herself beam even more when she saw Harry standing in the Ravenclaw Common Room in a nice tuxedo with a silver bowtie on instead of a normal formal tie. A small diamond and sapphire jeweled star brooch sat on the jacket of his tuxedo, something that belonged to Luna's dad of all people. He had seemed to have given his complete blessing to Harry.

Drifting down the staircase, Luna passed by some of the girls that were near the staircase and were wishing her good luck. She thanked them when she passed by them, when she reached Harry though she smiled larger than before, which almost seemed impossible.

"You look beautiful," Harry whispered and Luna blushed as she reached her hand up and cupped the side of his cheekbone. "I am happy that you decided to wear Daddy's brooch. It means a lot to the both of us."

Harry chuckled and brought his hand up to put it over Luna's, gave it one squeeze, before he dropped their hands from his face. They kept their hands together as they began to walk towards the Common Room door to leave.

"I have to make sure that my future father-in-law knows how much I adore his daughter," Harry responded, only for Luna to giggle some at the thought of her daddy saying that it wouldn't happen for a while.

"Daddy will say yes, I am certain of that." Luna squeezed his hand as they went down the stone staircase and to the corridor it was connected to.

There weren't that many people that were in the corridor, there were the Prefects of course. They knew though that there would be those that were in formal outfits and would end up going to Professor Slughorn's party.

As they came closer to Professor Slughorn's party location, Luna remembered how Rufus Scrimgeour was going to be at the party. "Oh, I almost forgot! Rufus Scrimgeour is going to be at the party! Did you know that he's a vampire?"

Harry arched his eyebrow at his girlfriend, wondering why she thought that, "I didn't know that…" He drifted off; knowing that saying anything else would either encourage her or make her aggravated by him. The last thing that he needed was to have Luna not talk to him the rest of the night.

As silly as it sounded Harry wanted her to talk about these things. He wanted to hear her silly little stories that claimed that people were other creatures all entirely, or that there were creatures that were being hidden by the Ministry of Magic. It made all the worries and stress that came with Voldemort, even the nightmares that he had experienced, seem to go away during those special moments.

"Oh yes! Daddy wrote a very long article about it after Mr. Scrimgeour became Minister of Magic. It never got published though, because the Ministry made sure that it wouldn't," Luna added, which made Harry nod as he absorbed the information that his girlfriend was giving him.

They reached the room where the party was being held and entered it after having to show Filch their invitation. He had whined about wanting to be there in order to make sure that if anyone that wasn't a part of the party could end up getting caught by him and Mrs. Norris.

After showing their invitations and finding amusement in the disappointed features of Filch at the knowledge that he couldn't yell at them, the two teenagers entered the room and found more people in the room than they thought.

Almost as though he had felt them enter Professor Slughorn snapped his head in their direction, though he was standing in the middle of the room and had been facing away from them—he was talking to two interesting looking people. He had a glass of fire whiskey in his hand, though Professor Dumbledore encouraged them to not have alcohol on school grounds.

"Ah! Harry! Luna! Come, come! I must have you meet some wonderful and accomplished men!" Professor Slughorn began to make his way towards them, wearing his expensive robes that were a little smaller than they should have been. It seemed as though he would have to have them taken out, because he must have been eating more than usual.

Harry softly pulled her in the direction of where Professor Slughorn was, finding that he was turning and telling the two men that were in front of him things about Luna and Harry. The two men nodded their heads, as though letting him know that they were soaking in all the information that he was divulging to them.

Harry and Luna reached them and Professor Slughorn arched his back up, "gentlemen, I don't know if you have had the chance in the past to meet him, but here is Harry Potter! **_The Harry Potter_**! And this is his girlfriend, Luna Lovegood."

It didn't surprise Luna that he had merely mentioned her, but Harry cleared his throat, "thank you for inviting _us_, Professor Slughorn."

Harry fought the urge to give the man a pointed look and Professor Slughorn thankfully was quick to catch on to what he had said. "I apologize, Miss Lovegood, I should have given you a better introduction."

"It is all right, professor. I am used to being pushed aside when I am with my Harry. It is not your fault, it is just the way prominent witches and wizards that are or want to be higher positioned act and think. I would not have expected anything else than what I had been greeted with."

Rufus Scrimgeour stiffened a snort, only for Luna to turn and look at him, "Hello, Mr. Scrimgeour! As you heard, I am Luna Lovegood. My daddy is the editor of the Quibbler, and although we wanted the public to know of you being a vampire, it seems as though the Ministry decided to put a stop to that. Would you ever be interested in the future to tell the public the truth?"

A new man popped up with a wide smile, "did someone say vampire? I believe that I have the solution to that! Sanguini, come here!" It was Eldred Worple; he was the author of _Blood Brothers: My Life among Vampires_.

A sullen looking man appeared next to Eldred Worple, he was very attractive but Luna thought that no one could be anymore attractive than her Harry. He kept glancing at women's and men's necks, as though he wanted to throw himself at the nearest person and rip their throat open.

As though he sensed that Eldred turned to the man and yanked him by the sleeve, "Sanguini, no!" which in return made the man glare hotly at Eldred. It seemed as though he didn't sign up to even attend this party, he was dragged to it.

Speaking of people being dragged to parties, a sudden Slytherin Head of the House appeared next to the group and arched his eyebrow at the man in front of him, "I would suggest that you not bring a vampire with you next time, Worple. Then again, I am intrigued by the knowledge that Sanguini has not murdered you in your sleep, or any of his other covens. I would have done so if I had to stay with you for that enlightening work of literature."

Eldred Worple merely dismissed Professor Snape, "Come, Sanguini, let us go to the buffet table and get us something to eat." Sanguini gave an evil glare at the man, almost as though he was truly contemplating biting Eldred Worple's throat open to drain him of his blood. Then again, that might not be very good blood.

Luna all the while was craning her head to the side like a French bulldog before she turned her attention on Professor Snape. "Hello, professor. I cannot help but probe to see if Draco is all right?"

"Ah! I forgot that you are his cousin, and that he is your cousin. I should not be surprised; you look just the same, just the opposite sex. Such a pity that you could not be a Slytherin," Professor Slughorn interrupted, only for Professor Snape to twirl so that he was facing the smaller and pudgier man.

"Need I remind you what your obsession with Slytherin resulted in?" Professor Snape hissed, only for Professor Slughorn's face to turn a few sheets whiter at the knowledge that Professor Snape was able to be the kind of man that would tell something about someone even though he told that person that he wouldn't. He wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt for doing so.

Professor Slughorn gave one glare at Professor Snape before spinning on his heels and making his way across the room. Luna hadn't even noticed that Harry had slipped away until now but she didn't feel anger towards this. She knew that he must have needed to go and receive information from someone on the light side that had come to the party, or he might need to receive information about Professor Dumbledore.

So turning back around, Luna traveled around the room and spoke to those that had introduced themselves to her.

The Aribta Comatti were surrounding her and comforting her. She danced in the center of the room with them, not even knowing that Harry had arrived back until he took her hands and began to waltz around the room with her. The Aribta Comatti shot warm golden lights across their faces that only the two teenagers could see but for a moment it felt as though they were at a normal party and not one that was being hosted by Professor Slughorn.

Though Luna was certain that she could dance with Harry anywhere that they wanted she had to admit that dancing with him in this large room with the Aribta Comatti had to be one of her favorite moments of slow dancing with her Harry.


	75. Christmas of 97

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_76:_**_ Christmas of 97_

**Christmas break **came before anyone knew it. Luna was excited, of course, but she knew that she would be completely happy if her cousin and aunt could celebrate the holiday with her and the Weasleys. She knew though that they would have to stay at the Manor in order to not cause anymore complaints from truly loyal Death Eaters. They were already on thin ice with Bellatrix and they all knew that the woman would have no hesitance or guilt with killing her own sister and nephew.

After all Bellatrix had almost killed her cousin. Again if it weren't for Mandy, they would have had to bury Sirius. Then again her body wasn't recovered and they claimed that Mandy had fallen through The Veil, so there was no chance or opportunity to save her or recover her body.

Luna once again was happy that she hadn't been there to see her best friend die. She did secretly wish that she had been there to save her best friend, but that was not in the cards for her. She had to stay at Grimmauld, while Sirius had gone out in order to get to Harry and protect him.

They were going to have the Christmas party the night before Christmas at The Burrow though Luna was still insisting that she should be able to stay back at her own house. She already knew that the place would be infested with Nargles and she would feel better and get actual rest at her own house.

Ginny came to Luna's house dressed in some comfortable jeans and a long sleeve red shirt, though to be honest it didn't make a pretty color with Ginny's hair. It was the curse for redheads it seemed; sometimes they would have some shades of red that would look horrible on them.

"Lune, I am so happy to see you!" Ginny threw her arms around her best friend and Luna soaked in the warmth that Ginny was giving her. She was happy to see her best friend too, especially since she found herself drifting back to Ginny ever since what had happened with Mandy.

"Harry's already at The Burrow, he came this morning. He wanted to come and surprise you but I demanded that he stay there so that I could come and pick you up." Ginny rolled her eyes at the memory of Harry pouting when he was told that he couldn't go and get his girlfriend to bring over.

"I am pleased to see you instead for once," Luna admitted as she turned and grabbed her vivid lime green pea coat before putting it on. She knew that her daddy didn't want to go celebrate the holiday with the Weasleys and they all respected the seclusion that Xenophilius requested.

Luna was wearing a simple red silk long sleeve dress that had the white fur trim around the bottom of the skirt and the ends of her sleeve. She had the traditional Christmas party dress. It was a present that Aunt Narcissa had decided to give to Luna; Professor Snape had dropped it off before wordlessly leaving.

"How is everyone?" Luna probed to her best friend as she shut the front door behind her, locking it behind her. She spun on her simple worn out tennis shoes before they traveled through the field to The Burrow.

"It's interesting to say the least. I swear that Tonks was burning a hole into Sirius's head whenever he would talk to Remus. Apparently she isn't that pleased with finding out the true story behind Sirius and Remus," Ginny informed her best friend, which in return made Luna crane her head to the side.

"Sirius had a big crush on Remus when they were in Hogwarts. Remus never found out the truth until after Sirius had escaped from Azkaban. Remus is having a really hard time dealing with this, after all he really does love Tonks but I feel like he might have possibly more than platonic emotions towards Sirius," Ginny added and Luna frowned softly at the knowledge that her second cousin was hurting; he might have had his heart broken completely.

As it would turn out what Ginny had said was one hundred percent the truth because when they entered The Burrow the air was full of tension that Luna had never felt before in her life. She noted that Dora was standing off to the side and that she was trying to talk to Molly and Arthur Weasley, though her hair was shifting to different shades that let Luna know how emotional she was.

Remus was sitting on one of the couches in the living room and he was holding a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. He was engulfing the hot chocolate as slow, but also somewhat quick, as possible so that he could find a way that he could become calmer and happier. His hands were shaking though and Molly was quietly casting a cleaning spell on the man whenever hot chocolate would fall onto his clothes.

Sirius was in the kitchen and he was sitting there with his head tilted forward, he had his head in his hands and anguish was apparent across his features. Luna felt her heart clench as she entered fully and everyone noticed her. Molly beamed brightly and Dora smiled warmer when she saw her favorite cousin.

"I do not see any Nargles yet, they must be resting," Luna noted aloud only for Molly Weasley to laugh and shake her head, "oh, no dear! I actually made sure to lessen the amount of mistletoe in the house."

Luna smiled, happy that Molly Weasley had decided that she would do a simple thing as lessening the amount of mistletoe in the house because Luna was going to be at the Christmas Party.

The sudden sound of something clicking on one of the windows made everyone glance in the direction of the sound. Molly Weasley went to the door and pulled open the window before untangling a letter from an owl. She fed the owl silently and then shut the door, locking it securely behind her.

"Oh, a letter from Bill, I was wondering what was taking him so long!" Molly went to one of the recliners and sat down before she opened the letter and began to read it. It didn't take long though for the recliner to tip backwards and she went flying back, in shock at what she had just read.

Arthur rushed over to his wife's side only to have her start cussing, enough that everyone caught the jest of what the letter was about.

Apparently Fleur had convinced Bill to go to France and spend Christmas with her and her family. Bill ended up agreeing since he knew that this might be the last Christmas for Fleur to visit France before she would get married to Bill and settle down in Britain.

"That phlegm, I knew that she was good for nothing!" Ginny folded her arms against her chest, anger radiating from her at the fact that Fleur had managed to get Bill to do something that would impact the whole family.

Luna dismissed them, knowing that this was a family matter for them and she had no true opinion towards Fleur Delacour anymore. She hadn't seen the woman in a long time, so the next time that she would see her would probably be at Bill and Fleur's wedding. She'd be a blushing, happy bride then.

Instead she headed over to Sirius and sat down next to him before she reached her hand out and brushed her hand against his arm. He brought his head up and turned to look at his cousin, finding that there was a patient look upon her features. She let him know that she was here for him.

"I didn't mean to fall in love with him. It just happened," Sirius explained and Luna nodded her head. She took his hand in hers and kept their hands together before she turned to look in the direction of where Dora and Remus were.

"You cannot help who you fall in love with, Sirius. It is destined for us to love who we love, it is written in the stars. I will not hate you or leave you to join Dora's side if the worst happens and Remus chooses her over you."

Luna noted in the corner of her eye that Harry was lingering in the background and she nodded her head, as though letting him know that he could come over. He rushed over and wrapped his arms around his godfather, "I don't care if you are gay, or bi, or whatever you are. I love you."

"I love you too, Harry. That means a lot to me. It's not that simple though. Remus cares so deeply about everyone. He can have a true relationship with Dora, and not me. He can have kids, but he can't have that with me. I mean it's true that we could adopt but we wouldn't have natural children. He doesn't need to be held down by me," Sirius confessed, not noting that Remus had made his way over to them despite the fact that Dora looked as though she wanted to tell him to come back.

"Don't you dare think that, Sirius; you don't know what will happen. I don't know what will happen. You deserve whoever is meant to be with you. I cannot tell you what I feel for you now, since I just now learnt of your true feelings but I will not stop being your best friend. You'll always have me in your life," Remus responded before Sirius brought his head up and gave a soft, tired smile.

Remus gave them another small smile before he turned around and headed back into the living room. The twins weren't helping any as they made jokes, and Ginny looked as though she was going to pummel anyone who decided to go against her belief on thinking that Fleur Delacour was phlegm.

Ron was standing off to the side, near the kitchen with a bag of candy that he managed to knick from a stocking without his parents noticing. He was obviously there if they needed him.

It seemed as though drama had decided to take residence in The Burrow because it wasn't that long after the whole Sirius and Remus drama, and the Delacour vacation drama, that they were welcomed with the back door opening and Percy entering with the Minister.

Rufus Scrimgeour was too focused on finding Harry than looking around and seeing Luna sitting at the kitchen table. Sirius had ducked underneath the dining table and when Rufus Scrimgeour saw Harry he cleared his throat and made his way towards Harry.

"Mr. Potter, I am sorry to have come and interrupted your celebrations. I would like to speak to you outside," Rufus Scrimgeour announced, though he had tried to sound professional everyone knew that Rufus Scrimgeour would have demanded Harry straight out to follow him.

Percy was quietly standing off to the side, having estranged himself from his family. He didn't bat an eyelash toward his parents or his siblings. He did glance over at Dora though, wondering why she was even invited to come to The Burrow to begin with since she wasn't related to them.

Harry sighed, kissed Luna on her head, before he followed Rufus Scrimgeour out of The Burrow so that he could walk around the property. Sirius got up from where he was crouched and sat down next to Luna again.

Luna quietly leant her head to the side and allowed Sirius to wrap his arm around her, as though she was in his life since the beginning, before that fateful Halloween. She knew that she needed to be his base tonight, since it seemed as though Sirius had allowed a true side of him to come out more than fifteen years later being separated from the outside world and Remus.

A part of her was happy that Aunt Narcissa and Draco weren't here. She didn't know how her aunt would have reacted to the knowledge that her cousin had been in love with Remus Lupin for many years, or that she might be related to someone that wasn't straight like she thought that they were.


	76. the New Year

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_77:_**_ the New Year_

** True lovers **knew when their lover was being haunted by demons; they could see those flickers of nightmares that were absorbed in their irises. Luna knew this when they went back to Hogwarts, when he was away he was lighter filled and he didn't have to worry about anything. Yet that could only last so long, because now he was back and Luna could see that he was being visited by those memories and possibly visions that had to do with Voldemort.

The only good news was that Ambrose had finally written back to Hermione. They didn't know where they stood though, they were so ready to get into a relationship before Mandy had died but now that his cousin had died Ambrose seemed to be stuck in place. A part of him must have thought that Hermione could have done something to prevent Mandy's death but even Ambrose knew that Hermione couldn't have done anything to prevent Mandy's death.

Professor Slughorn seemed to look as though he was being chased by spirits whenever he would run into Harry now, he would spin on his heels and rush away. Harry looked as though he wanted to talk to the professor but the man knew what was going on and made sure that he wouldn't be able to talk to him.

Luna was currently sitting in the Ravenclaw Common Room and was looking through an array of Greek Mythological tales. She felt pity for Medusa for being murdered by Perseus for the woman never asked to be turned into that horrid monster. If anything Zeus was the one that was the horrid monster.

"Luna, can I sit next to you?"

Luna brought her head up from the book that she was reading to find that Cho Chang was in front of her. She nodded her head and Cho sat down next to her, in the silver Victorian era drawing room chair that was the twin of the one that Luna was sitting in. She was dressed in her normal school clothes, like Luna was.

"What are you reading?" Cho had little lines of stress that were radiating across her features but Luna pushed that little notation away in the back of her mind. She didn't think that Cho could ever get truly over losing her first love, though she might possibly find new loves if she learnt to slowly heal.

"I just finished the Greek Mythological tale of Medusa and Perseus. I quite feel pity towards Medusa. Did you know that they would put statues of Medusa outside of buildings that were for women and children that were being abused by men? It warded the men away most of the time."

"Yeah, I think I heard that before…I was wondering if maybe it would be wrong of me to try and be a more prominent friend of Ron's. It's really nice to be coaching someone Quidditch, especially if that person has a passion towards Quidditch. I think that before long I might want to…."

Luna blinked a few times, and then felt a pang of sadness for Cho Chang. Ron was talking about asking Lavender Brown out when they had gotten back. He hadn't made any comment about wanting to ask out Cho.

Apparently the silence that came and the awkward look that came across Luna's face let Cho know that any fleeting thought of trying to be more than a friend with Ron Weasley was dashed. She stood up and cleared her throat before she nodded her head and walked away.

Speaking of Ron, his birthday was coming up and it wasn't a wonderful birthday. Most Muggles and Wizards/Witches asked for simple cool things, but Ron hadn't thought anything more about that candies that Romilda Vane had given to Harry and now was in the possession of Ron.

Luna had been in the library, studying on her work, since Ron had assured everyone that he didn't need anything for his birthday except for some gift cards to some of the stores down in Hogsmeade. Everyone had fulfilled his wish when it came to that, so after giving Ron his gift card Luna went into the library.

Luna had just gotten into looking at the section of homework that Professor Slughorn had given to her earlier in the day but wasn't supposed to be turned into for another two weeks, when she heard the library door throw open and Hermione come rushing into the library with a look of shock across her features.

"Ron just managed to basically bloody poison himself!" Hermione screeched, which made some of the students that were in the library to flinch from the loud monstrosity that was Hermione Granger. Luna calmly gathered her things together and put them into her satchel before she followed Hermione out of the library.

"It doesn't help that he just started dating Lavender Brown. That crazy girl gets insanely jealous if anyone looks at her boyfriends. She almost bit off Cho Chang's head when she saw her looking at Ron a little longer than she should. Anyway, Ron ate some candies that he had found in Harry's chest and it turns out that they were from Romilda Vane, who had put a love potion into the candies.

"Long story short they had to go to Madam Pomfrey, thank goodness that Harry knew automatically what was happening. He's going to be an amazing Healer, Lune."

Luna was nodding as she was listening to Hermione. She never asked her to repeat something or she didn't tell her to slow down. She gathered all that her smart best friend was saying and digested it before she decided to speak.

When they reached the infirmary they entered and saw that Madam Pomfrey was standing near Ron and was talking to him. He was answering to her, and she took mental notes while Harry was getting things and giving them to other students that were in the infirmary.

It was obvious that Madam Pomfrey was going to have Harry help real quick in making sure that all of the patients were receiving water and medicine that they needed. He wasn't upset by this; in fact Harry looked as though he was in his true element as he waited with patience when it came to having the students drinking their water and their medicine.

Hermione headed in the direction of where Ron was, shaking her head as he went to open his mouth and defend himself. He reminded her of a toddler in a way, they would eat something before realizing that it wasn't something that they should have eaten. It was a good thing that Ron didn't have any food allergies.

Luna on the other hand went in the direction of where Harry was, noting that there was a young student that was in the cot. He looked as though he was only a first or second year and he peered at the two upper years with wonderment. He never thought that he would even be able to meet them.

"You're Luna Lovegood! I knew that Harry helped in the infirmary but I never had the courage to come and meet him. It just so happens that I had mistakenly taken something that doesn't agree with me," the boy admitted as Luna absorbed what he said before she sat down on the edge of the cot.

"I'm glad, I am proud of my Harry. I hope that you get better," Luna responded to him before she reached out and ran her fingers through his hair in a motherly manner. The boy had his eyes widen even more, their hazel glint revealing little golden and brown specks floating within those green orbs.

Luna stood up and turned to Harry before she leant up and kissed him on the cheek. He wrapped his arm around her and held her for a moment. Then he let her go and the both of them headed over to where Ron was. He was peering at the two women that were above him, Hermione had a look of tired irritation and Madam Pomfrey looked as though she was going to strangle him if he came back into her ward in a situation just like the one that she was presented with.

Luna hoped too that nothing else happened to Ron. He seemed to be having rotten luck lately.


	77. Mclaggen's Return

**_78:_**_ Mclaggen's Return_

**As it would **turn out things were not the best for Ron. He was not having the best luck it seemed like; this year was showing that this wasn't a good start of the year. If being poisoned meant having a shitty birthday, then that was exactly the meaning of a terrible start of the year. After all, drinking mead from Professor Slughorn for a pick-me-up was supposed to be nothing more than a nice, well, pick-me-up. Instead he was poisoned, after having had been given love potion chocolates.

To say the least Harry was getting pretty aggravated that people seemed to want to contaminate food and drink that could be given to the Golden Trio, especially if it meant that Luna could possibly become the next victim. Maybe next time it wouldn't be something simple as candies or mead, and that made him even more frightened at the thought of Luna being poisoned by her Gurdyroot Tea.

It had taken forever for his Luna to even get past the second task during the Triwizard Tournament, and when she had finally gotten past it she was able to drink her tea once more. Of course every now and then she would check to make sure that the tea wasn't drugged, but that was only whenever she would have random flash backs to what had happened that cold morning in the Black Lake.

Now they were welcomed with another irritating result due to Ron not being able to be the Keeper for the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff match. He had just gotten into the groove when it came to playing Quidditch but apparently that didn't matter to whoever had ended up poisoning him.

Ron had wanted to go to the match but Madam Pomfrey had nicked that in the butt when she had heard that he had wanted to go out. So she had demanded that he stay within the castle during the duration of the match. It didn't help that Professor McGonagall had agreed. It seemed as though she too knew that Molly Weasley would become upset if her son managed to fall down the stairs that led up to the Gryffindor stand.

Luna had been offered to be the one to commentate the match but she wasn't in the mood to do so. She had politely said no, so they had gone to Seamus Finnegan to ask him if he wanted to commentate and he had eagerly agreed to do so.

She was wearing a simple red sweater, with light washed jeans, and some odd high heels that had albino peacock wings on the back of the heels which were placed upon the heels as though they were in flight. The shoes were another gift from Aunt Narcissa and Luna had put them on every now and then. She truly did treasure the gifts that she received from her aunt.

The Hufflepuffs didn't seem like they were excited to have Cormac Mclaggen as the Keeper for Gryffindor. The fact that he was allowed to be the substitute for Ron even if he didn't officially do try-outs had caused an outrage for more than the Gryffindor's, even the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs were insanely upset with having that asshole playing.

Once Luna got to the top of the Ravenclaw stand she sat down in a spot that was in the front. She didn't find a reason to go and sit with Hermione in the Gryffindor stand, mainly because of the fact that Hermione had decided that she didn't want to go to the match to begin with. It was just going to be Luna that was going to rough out this dreadful match.

"Nice shoes…Lovegood," one of the fifth years managed to speak, which in return made Luna turn to find that the student was looking down at Luna's shoes with intrigue but caution as though he was expecting to find out that the feathers were enchanted to attack anyone who didn't truly admire the shoes.

"Thank you, Aunt Narcissa gave them to me. She likes to spoil me sometimes," Luna responded, only for some of the Ravenclaws that were around her to stop talking. They peered at the odd girl that was in the front row of the wooden bleachers that were built in the stand.

"Oh…okay," the boy continued and Luna still gave him a soft, reassuring smile before they could hear the start of the match begin. Luna turned her whole focus on the match before her, noting that Cormac Mclaggan was already looking as though he was the entitled person that he was.

Luna knew that people thought that her cousin was a shitty person, and though Luna didn't want to think that way about Draco she knew that he wasn't a good person. He had been raised with these prejudices against tainted blood in the Wizarding World, along with those that were pure and didn't support those of tainted blood.

It felt as though the match wasn't going to last that long with Cormac Mclaggan surrounding the other players and telling them what to do instead of staying near the goal post. The Hufflepuffs obviously were able to start shooting their Quaffle balls into the hoops.

Irritation flooded through Luna at the knowledge that this teenager was allowed to play the game and that he was trying to take the position from Harry. He had earned that title fear and square and she didn't appreciate how Cormac Mclaggan had so deliberately pushed Harry aside.

One moment everything was fine, and then the next moment Harry was being hit with a Bludger—making him get hit straight in the face. He began swirling down but was cushioned with spells by the professors before he landed.

Rushing down the stairs so that she could see her boyfriend, Luna ignored everyone that was around her. They were impressed with the balance that the short girl had with rushing down stairs in what some people called 'street walker' heels.

As soon as she reached the grass she hurried towards her Harry that was on the stretcher, almost screaming in anger at the sight of her poor Harry battered blue and with blood splattered across his face. She snapped her head in the direction of where Cormac Mclaggan was.

Stalking towards the pitch, Luna dismissed Madam Hooch as she finally realized that Luna was heading to the Quidditch pitch. She was focused on Cormac Mclaggan and all she wanted to do was punch him in the face for hurting her Harry.

The Aribta Comatti appeared and covered over the broom that Cormac Mclaggan was on, yanking him down with their incredible strength. It looked as though his broom was being bewitched but no one was casting a spell—they could see that Luna was not focused on a nonverbal spell.

Once the broom had been yanked under him when he was at a safe distance to fall, the boy grunted in shock when he thudded against the grass. He stood up, in his Quidditch uniform that he didn't deserve to wear.

Luna didn't think twice when she hastily rushed towards the boy and threw her arm back before she punched him square in the jaw. He stumbled back and fell onto the grass, his eyes widened at the fact that Luna had actually physically hurt him.

Behind her she could hear the screeches of both Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch. "MISS LOVEGOOD!"

An hour later she was given the punishment of hand cleaning the Quidditch supplies for two weeks, and although Madam Hooch was not happy about there being physical violence while it was on her own pitch she seemed somewhat happy with the fact that a woman had put a man in his place.

She then went up to the ward, entering to see that Madam Pomfrey was standing next to Harry's cot and she was fussing over him. He was passed out, since she had given him enough medication to keep him knocked out for a while. He was lucky enough to be knocked out so that he couldn't feel the pain to begin with.

"There you are, dear. I heard that you punched Cormac Mclaggan in the face, I would be completely against it but he was the reason why my wonderful Harry is in the ward as a patient and not as an intern. I have decided to turn the other cheek since I know that you were punished," Madam Pomfrey informed Luna and she blushed before she nodded her head, as though letting her know that she had indeed gotten in trouble.

Sitting next to Harry, Luna grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze as though to let him know that she was there for him.

Today would be known as the day that Luna didn't take shit from anyone anymore, and that if anyone ever thought to hurt both her cousin and her Harry they would end up like Cormac Mclaggan.


	78. Padfoot & Moony

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_79:_**_ Padfoot & Moony _

** They had **warned Luna that Draco would end up having to be a Death Eater. She wanted him to be able to have a chance, she wanted him to be able to speak for himself and he wouldn't have anything connecting him permanently to Voldemort. Yet she knew that eventually he would end up having to get the dark mark.

Professor Snape ended up being the one who told Luna and even Harry that Draco had taken the mark over the winter break and that he was now a part of the Death Eaters. He was a prospect for something that was bigger and more dangerous than Draco could possibly end up succeeding in.

It frightened Luna immensely; she didn't want to imagine that Voldemort would murder her cousin in cold blood. She would have expected for her uncle to end up being the one that was murdered in cold blood but he had survived longer than anyone thought that he would.

Professor Snape stood stiff and straight as he was in his office, Luna was hunched forward and she was crying. He was looking anywhere but at her, since crying was not something that he liked to be confronted with. He especially didn't like it when he would end up being in a contained space with said crying person.

"I promised his mother that I would make sure to keep Draco safe, it is safe to say that promise has been extended to you," Professor Snape calmly explained and Luna nodded her head before she wiped the tears away from her face.

"I-I understand. I know you do not like people crying, it leaves you very uncomfortable and it is understandable. I know that you do not think that you have anyone, but you can be reassured that I will not push you away. I know that you are paying for your sins in the past but thank you for telling me nonetheless about my Draco and what has happened," Luna responded, which in return made Professor Snape furl his eyebrow at her.

"Your blunt honesty is not only your strength but also your downfall, Miss Lovegood. If you say something like that around someone worse than me, then I am certain that you will find yourself in a situation that will not be resulted in a way that you would find suitable." Professor Snape smoothed down his robes and stalked over to where his office door was, before he opened it.

Luna walked out and heard the door shut behind her. The loud thud reverberated in the empty classroom, as though they were welcomed with a bomb that was being exploded. She didn't flinch from the office door slamming shut; Professor Snape was notorious for slamming doors behind him in anger.

Leaving the entire classroom, Luna shut the classroom door behind her as though to tell others that Professor Snape wouldn't want them to enter any of his educational space where he lectured how to properly defend your own self.

Heading towards where the Gryffindor Common Room was, Luna didn't glance over at the other students that were wandering throughout the corridors. She just wanted to spend some time in the Common Room where she would be greeted with her best friends, instead of a Common Room where people wanted to be her friends due to the death of Mandy Brocklehurst.

When she made it to the corridor that made up where the Gryffindor Common Room was she was greeted with Neville slowly making his way in her direction, holding a letter in his hand with a face that let her know he was afraid that it was going to curse him for not being the person that was supposed to receive the said letter.

He looked up, relief flooded across his face as he hurried in her direction. "Oh, thank Merlin! I was coming to find you! Someone sent you a letter!"

Luna could tell that Neville had gotten a letter that was from Sirius and that he was coming to find her to give her it. He didn't know that it was Sirius; just that he knew that he had gotten enough letters in the past where the sender was going to Howler at him for doing something that was forgetful.

"Thank you, Neville." Luna took the letter from him and made her way into the Common Room with Neville trailing behind her. The Fat Lady greeted her warmly before they entered and the portal portrait shut behind her.

Heading in the direction of where the stairs that went up to the boys' dorms were, she soon heard the sound of Hermione calling out her name. Turning to look at her best friend, Luna saw that everyone was looking at her with a peculiar curiosity. "Oh, I received a letter. I thought to read it in Harry's dorm."

Neville was stuttering and Ron merely noted that the envelope looked as though it was from Sirius before he shrugged his shoulders. He knew that if the letter was meant for him and Harry and Luna all together then he would follow her up there. He wasn't going to do that, his mum taught him better than that.

Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan looked as though they were going to make protests only for Ron to speak up, "aye, don't be complaining. It's just Luna. She just wants to read her letter, that's all. Leave her alone."

The two sixth years frowned and were about to speak up again only for Hermione to give them a challenging look this time. Knowing that it was a lost cause they sighed and turned back to progress on their Wizarding Chess.

Luna went up the stairs and entered the dorm where the sixth years were located. She shut the door behind her and sat down on Harry's bed before she opened the envelope and began to read what Sirius had written to her.

**_Dear Luna,_**

**_ I have decided to write to you so that I can inform you that I told Remus that he should marry Dora. I know that it is too late for me to wish to keep this wild fantasy of us being together. I have to admit I would have happily raised Harry with Remus if I could, if it was destined for us. We would have been wonderful fathers for Harry, I am certain that James would be happy looking down at us._**

**_ I am certain that Remus would be happier with Dora. As I said before she can actually give him natural children. They can have his eyes, and they can have a little Remus. No one would want to see a little Sirius, little Sirius was a terrible person growing up. _**

**_ Not as terrible as my family, that's on another level but I was a terrible person when I was growing up. Harry seeing that memory only assured me that we were terrible bullies at Hogwarts for most of our years._**

**_ I am sorry that I have disappointed you. I do not think that I could fight for Remus when I know that I don't even have a chance to be with him. He's too good for me; he's so much stronger than I am in and out._**

**_ Please do not show this to Harry._**

**_ Your cousin,_**

**_ S B_**

Tears dripped down Luna's cheekbones at the knowledge that her cousin thought that he didn't have a chance to be with his childhood love, possibly the first love that Sirius had ever experienced. For all that she knew he hadn't felt love again, especially since he had spent so many years in Azkaban. His youth was taken from him, after all.

Luna closed the letter and put it back into the envelope it came with before she stood up and wiped away the tears that were falling. It seemed as though today was destined to be the day that she would receive bad news.

Her first cousin had to join Voldemort's ranks and now her second cousin thought that he wasn't good enough for Remus Lupin. He wasn't even going to fight for the man that he adored.

The knocking on the dorm door allowed Luna to look up and clear her throat, "you may come in."

The door opened to show Hermione standing in the doorway. She was holding another envelope, one that wouldn't surprise Luna if it was from Remus of all people. It would be sad irony that he was writing to tell Luna what had happened and what he felt towards Sirius, and this whole situation.

Luna took the envelope from Hermione and tore it open carefully through the letter seam. Hermione didn't bat an eyelash towards the envelope before she sighed and sat down next to her, "it's from Sirius? I'm not surprised if this one is from Remus. I feel terrible for them."

"He told me not to let Harry read this. Harry has already said that he's not homophobic but I think that for once Sirius feels really vulnerable. I would appreciate it if you don't read either of these letters." Luna looked up and saw that Hermione nodded her head, "of course! I wouldn't dare read them."

"Thank you. May I please read this letter? And if Harry comes back can you distract him? I don't want him coming in here when I'm reading," Luna probed to the girl, only for Hermione to nod her head again before she stood up and walked out of the dorm. She shut the door behind her, leaving Luna alone once more.

Luna took a deep breath before she undid the envelope and pulled out the letter. She unfolded it and found that this letter was written in a completely different handwriting than Sirius's handwriting. Sirius had written with heavy pressure and Remus was writing hastily as though he didn't know truly want to do.

**_Dear Luna,_**

**_ I have heard that you have consulted and comforted Sirius. I am happy that you have reached out to your cousin and have comforted him. I wish that I had the opportunity to do the same in that moment._**

**_ Nymphadora has left me, for now. She's in complete distress at the thought of me harboring a secret love for Sirius. She's so afraid that I'm going to choose Sirius over her. I haven't let her know though what I have thought about this, and I truly don't know how to explain my feelings._**

**_ I have never hated Sirius, though he has made me do things in the past that I have not cared for. He apologized hastily when we were alone, and I forgave him. Just one look at his pleading eyes and I could forgive him for anything. Maybe he is a weakness of mine in a way._**

**_ My first kiss was on a dare and his first kiss with a boy because of a dare too. Mine was with a girl though. I never found myself in a situation where I would have a boy want to have more than a platonic situation with me._**

**_ I love Nymphadora, but I also know that there's something inside of me that has always pulled me towards Sirius._**

**_ Maybe it's for the best that I am without anyone right now, until I know for sure who I wish to be with more._**

**_ From,_**

**_ R L_**

Luna folded the letter and placed it back in its proper envelope before she gathered her envelopes and put them into her satchel. She knew that they wanted to write to her in order to see what she would say to them but what could she say to them? They just needed to follow their hearts, no matter what one person would end up having their heart broken.

It just happened to be that it would be one of her cousins that would have their heart broken while the other was being held by Remus Lupin's hands.


	79. test results

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_80:_**_ test results_

**Before long April 21****st**arrived, which happened to be the day that the Apparation test was supposed to happen, and it seemed as though anyone who was seventeen before today or on the actual day were stressed out. There were some that were more collected than others but there were others that were helpless, they would obviously pass out if they were greeted with too much pressure.

The only two people that could take the test happened to be Hermione and Ron. Harry couldn't take the test yet, but his best friends were going to be put to the test when it came to something that was supposed to be a normal means of transportation in the Wizarding World.

Harry had already told Luna that there were some students that had to go to the infirmary because of the practices that they would have. Susan Bones had been one of those people, she had splintered her leg. He was there to watch how her leg came back, since he was going to be working in Healing after all.

Ron looked nauseous, a slight shinny tinge to his face that let them know he was sweating heavily. He was yanking at his shirt and was shifting on his feet, hopping from one leg to another. The only thing that kept him from passing out, himself was the fact that Harry had said that he was going to be there to help Ron if anything became splintered.

Hermione was a little nervous and very snappy when they tried to talk to her. She kept making measurements in her mind to make sure that nothing was off. There would be nothing that would be wrong, she was sure of that.

Luna merely stood next to Harry and kept her arm hooked around his. She was wearing a nineteen forty's inspired floral dress, which buttoned up and had short sleeves. It was an all over white floral pattern and the skirt stopped a few inches above her ankles. A simple pair of shoes of the same era aesthetic finished off her clothes, though she was wearing one of her numerous brooches Pandora had left for Luna to wear.

The sunlight streamed in and hit her blonde waves perfectly, there wasn't really any makeup on her, but her eyes were vividly blue today. She looked calm and collected even though she knew she was worrying about her cousins.

Hermione had kept with her promise, of course, when it came to not telling Harry about the letters or drama that was going on with Remus, Dora, and Sirius.

Sirius had written a good luck letter for Ron and Hermione but Kreacher had managed to get to the letter without Sirius realizing it. He wanted to exclaim that this was going to be the last letter that they would get from his Master. He would follow through with Mistress's wishes and kill Sirius.

They knew that Kreacher could be taken care of. He was on permanent house arrest until he would be given his privileges back. So far he was in his little cocoon of little torn blankets and family treasures, only coming out when he thought that Sirius wouldn't pay attention to him or yell at him more than usual.

Luna felt a pair of eyes on her and looked over her shoulder. She noted that a flicker of platinum blond hair appeared before fading, allowing her to know that her cousin had come to check on her. He must have known that she was going to be down here with Harry and the others, to wish them good luck.

She hadn't told the others that Draco was a Death Eater; she knew that she was running out of time though. They would need to learn of this from Luna so that they could believe her instead of seeing it front of their faces if Draco was being forced to attack them because it was Voldemort's orders.

She knew that she would have to tell them tonight, because she didn't want to wait until the last moment. She didn't want something to happen and then they wouldn't forgive for not warning them about Draco's true status now.

So she cleared her throat and gathered their attention, "I would like for us to meet at the Room of Requirement tonight. I have some important information that I would like to share with you. I believe that it is the right time to do so, because I cannot prolong it any longer."

"If I didn't know what kind of girl you are, Luna, I would have thought that you would be telling me and 'Mione and Harry that you're pregnant."

In seconds Harry elbowed Ron in the stomach, which made him groan loudly and dramatically fall onto the stone floor. Hermione shook her head, "serves you right. Luna is a lady, she has morals."

Luna merely shrugged her shoulders, "it does not affect me. I do want children in the future, many of them, but I do not want them right now. Some of the strongest women that you meet are adolescent mothers. One should not degrade them, well most of them, I am certain that there are those small percentages of girls that…"

"Well congratulations! That doesn't mean that you need to be a Git and basically punch me in the stomach. You better be lucky that I didn't throw up!" Ron grumbled from the ground, he reached his hand out and Harry took his hand before he yanked his best friend up from the ground.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm certain that you would make a wonderful mother," Ron commented, which in return made Luna smile warmly at him. "That is very nice of you to say, Ron. I am certain that this is one of those moments where people say not to dig a hole more."

Ron listened to her and stopped talking about that topic all entirely.

As it would turn out though Ron would have something else to talk about when he returned from his test and was lividly pissed off. He had failed from getting his Apparation license. Hermione on the other hand was happy, since she had passed the test though everyone knew that she would.

"Mr. Weasley! I cannot believe that you are muttering such horrendous vocabulary! This is the only warning that you will receive!" Professor Flitwick of all people had cried this, the short man had appeared next to them out of no where but Apparation was not possible in the school (it had been during testing but even then it was to certain spots outside of the castle and in the Great Hall).

Harry smirked at his best friend, finding that it was quite amusing that he was being yelled at by another professor than Professor McGonagall. They had gotten so used to the Transfiguration teacher, so having the Charms teacher come out of no where and be the one to take her place temporary was refreshing. It might also have to do with the fact that the professor was his girlfriend's Head of her House.

Again, Ron managed to listen to someone and stop cussing up a storm, knowing that the last thing that he needed was for one of his teachers to send a letter to his mum. He didn't want his mum to send him _another _Howler.

It would not be until they were done with supper they were able to sneak away and try to get into the Room of Requirement. Only, when they tried to open it, it didn't budge. It allowed them to know that someone was in that room and that they were trying to keep this completely secret.

Luna sighed as she reached forward and let her fingers brush against the wall, before glancing around and noting that no one was around them. "It's being blocked, I am certain that we can all say who it is that is keeping the room blocked."

Behind her she could hear her friends and boyfriend say Draco's name, well Harry said his surname but it was enough for her to know that they had an idea as to why Luna had wanted them to gather around.

She turned around and looked at all three of them, "Look at my wrist. I am certain that Hermione and Harry will be able to catch onto it immediately but it's all right if you cannot Ron."

Ron huffed, as though letting her know that he was insulted with the knowledge that she didn't think that he would be able to catch on to what she was doing. He wasn't confused at all though when she made the motion of the Dark Mark on her wrist. His face became whiter though a look of crushing sadness appeared in Hermione's features at the fact that Draco had been forced against his will to be a Death Eater.

Walking away from the door, Luna sighed and took one last look behind her. She could see that Goyle and Crabbe were making their way in the direction of where the doors were and they were wearing black wigs that were supposed to make them look like unattractive girls. If Luna was mean and spiteful she would have thought that they were trying to be Pansy Parkinson's sisters.

It only cemented the fact that Draco was doing something in the Room of Requirement and it might be something that even she could not forgive him for doing. Only time would tell.


	80. Hogwart's Dark Mark

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_81:_**_ Hogwart's Dark Mark_

** After the reveal** of Draco being a newly established member of the Death Eaters the Golden Trio and Luna hoped that something good would happen. If only Luna knew that it wouldn't be possible for that to happen, especially when she would see the look in Harry's eyes. She thought that she had seen demons in his eyes before, now he looked as though he was seeing the devil himself.

It frightened Luna immensely, a part of her wanted to go up to Professor Dumbledore's office and plead for him to stop torturing her precious Harry. She already had heard about him having looked in memories in the pensive, and now Luna knew for sure that he was having memories of Voldemort when he was alive.

When Harry came back and sat with them Luna merely reached out to take his hand in hers before they walked towards the Owlery. They knew that with the room of requirement being under the hold of Draco that they could only have a certain amount of places that they could go.

Walking into the Owlery, Luna made her way to Amite and held out her arm before the owl landed on Luna's arm. She brushed her fingers through the feathers, her mind wandering off before she turned to look at Harry.

"You've been seeing memories of Voldemort, haven't you?" Luna probed to him, noting that he was pausing for a moment before he nodded his head. He reached his hand up, it was quivering as it was, and then ran his fingers through his hair.

"I can't express the look upon his face when he was so young. It is one thing to see him now, but to see that evil look upon his face when he was young, that is another thing all entirely. To learn that he has been collecting objects and splitting his soul into them—" Harry didn't have time to say anything else before Luna lightly moved her arm to make sure that Amite would go away.

"Horocruxes, that's what they are called." Luna gulped as she remembered her mother trying to find a horocrux in order to study it. It frightened Luna more than she could ever explain when it came to the fact that those last few years that her mother was alive was full of her mother obsessing over the dark arts.

Harry didn't say anything, since Luna was the one that was trembling this time. She would have sat down on the ground if she could, but she knew that there were owl droppings that were on the hay that caked her shoes below her.

"My mother was obsessed with them the last year that she was alive; she wanted nothing more than to find one so that she could study them. I think she was hoping to one day see if she could merge one horocrux with another…" Luna drifted off, feeling the arms of her boyfriend wrapping around her.

"Luna, Dumbledore wants me to go and find one of the—"

"NO! Harry, no! Please don't! I don't want to lose you!" Luna pleaded as she thought of her Harry going to find a horocrux and then dying because Voldemort would find him. Voldemort would surely kill her Harry if he learnt that Harry had been in possession of one of his precious horocruxes.

"Luna, love, I will be safe. Dumbledore will be with me," Harry tried to reassure her but that only made her tremble even more, "he's already fallen victim to one already. His finger is black; Mum knew the side effects of harboring a horocrux can result in. It must have been a ring of sort."

Luna was spewing this out, having been digging in her mind without realizing it, and coming out with this information. She didn't think that she would remember that Professor Dumbledore's finger was black. He often kept that hand of his behind his back in order to hide it from others.

The split second that she had seen the black finger was pushed to a corner of her mind, because she knew that sooner or later she would have the chance to talk to Harry and ask him if he knew what had happened with Professor Dumbledore.

Harry's eyes widened at the information that she told him, "that's what happened, but I promise you that won't happen again. He was alone; he didn't have anyone with him to tell him to not take the ring. I'll be there."

Luna shook her head, taking a step backwards, "I-I'm sorry, Harry. I just…I cannot accept this decision. I'm so afraid that I'm going to lose you."

Luna spun on her heels and ran away; tears were dripping down her cheekbones at foggy memories that appeared in her mind. All she could remember was her mother hastily looking through journals and talking about there being dark art vessels that needed to be contained and away from just anyone picking them up.

It would not be until Harry was gone that Luna truly felt as though her heart had left her right then and there. She could only pray that her Harry would come back home.

As it would turn out, Draco had done something that Luna knew tore him apart on the inside. He had let Death Eaters in through a vanishing cabinet. They ran through the school like a tidal wave and Luna was soon welcomed with them appearing early in the morning.

In nothing more than a pair of her silk pajamas that Mandy had given to her before she had died, Luna held her wand in her hand tightly. All around her she could see the black cloaks of Death Eaters that were on the hunt to kill anyone that stood in their way. She had yet to see her aunt, but she was certain that she would see that familiar shade of blond hair that let her know Uncle Lucius was here.

One of the Death Eaters stepped forward when it came to surrounding her, craning their head to the side, "ah! You must be _Luna_, Draco's cousin! Did you hear that, Lucius? Sounds like you're actually an uncle to another disappointment."

Another Death Eater stepped forward and she soon discovered that it was Uncle Lucius that was moving through the circle, they moved away hastily so that he could arrive before her. "She is no niece of mine. I will bring her to the Dark Lord; see what he wants to do with her."

Luna glared at the man in front of her, "Voldemort has made you into this weak man, if that is what you care to call yourself. It is one thing to follow a monster; it is another thing to become one so willingly."

Luna gasped when she felt a sharp pain hit her in the side of her cheek, noting in the corner of her eye that Bellatrix Lestrange had appeared and she looked anything but happy. "SHUT YOUR MOUTH, YOU VILE GIRL! NO ONE SPEAKS THAT WAY ABOUT THE DARK LORD!"

In the corner of her eye Luna sighed in relief when she was greeted with the sight of Hermione and Ron rushing towards her. They skidded to a stop when they saw the state that Luna was in, and how she was surrounded with Death Eaters. Two of them happened to be her aunt and uncle.

Luna looked at Hermione and let her eyes flicker in the direction of where Bellatrix was, so that Hermione knew what to do. Hermione immediately spelled Bellatrix into having the ropes wrapped around her. She was shrieking as she fell to the ground, which also resulted in the Death Eaters scattering and trying to find who it was that had cast the spell at Bellatrix.

None of them had seen that it was Hermione that had done it, since there was what seemed like hundreds of students that were running throughout the corridors. Hermione and Ron soon began to cast off spells, making sure to protect each other and also Luna, although Luna was busy shooting off spells at the Death Eaters that were around her—almost twirling and dancing across the stone floors.

She hadn't expected though to see Professor Snape running down the hall with agility and speed that she didn't know he had. Draco was soon the next person, and he was running with tears down his face. He had apparently done something or was about to do something that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

It wasn't until she saw Harry running after them with hot tears and betrayal across his face that Luna had a sick feeling that someone had just died…and that person just happened to be Professor Dumbledore.

As soon as they ran around the corner Uncle Lucius motioned for everyone to follow after him, which for once they seemed to actually listen to him. They all disappeared in a matter of moments, leaving the remnants of mayhem in its wake.


	81. death of Dumbledore

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_82:_**_ death of Dumbledore_

**Things had **happened this year at Hogwarts that Luna would have never to have expected to begin with. She had been welcomed with her aunt and cousin appearing at Grimmauld and then deciding to choose to be on the light side. If it weren't for them doing that she would have not known how to tell Harry to try and understand that Draco wasn't a complete asshole.

Mr. Weasley had gotten a promotion and Bill ended up getting engaged to Fleur. Harry became the Quidditch captain for Gryffindor and they learnt that Professor Snape was going to be the defense against the dark arts professor.

Cormac Mclaggen had provided to be the example that showed that he shouldn't insult Draco Malfoy in front of said Ravenclaw cousin or else she would end up casting a spell on you. She also proved that Cormac Mclaggen couldn't try and impress his way onto the team, and that being an asshole to captain's girlfriend wasn't the smartest thing to do anyway.

Ron ended up making Keeper, something that he never thought that he would be able to accomplish. Sure it was a rough start but he proved that he would end up being a great Quidditch captain.

Hogsmeade had brought worry to the students when Katie Bell had been poisoned by a necklace that she had found, she had floated up in the air and screamed. Luna had made sure to find some beautiful flowers to give to Katie, and she was there to comfort the girl as Katie told her countless tales from when she was a kid.

Romilda Vane would end up giving candies to Harry that were injected with love potion but sadly Ron had been the one who had eaten them and it resulted in him having to go to the infirmary, especially when he would end up getting poisoned by mead on his seventeenth birthday.

Luna found herself having a wonderful dance with Harry when they had gone to Professor Slughorn's party, having let their selves focus only on each other as they danced around the room and forgot everyone around them. They didn't pay attention to Professor Slughorn or Rufus Scrimgeour (even if Harry didn't believe the Minster was actually a vampire and his girlfriend did).

The Christmas party on Christmas Eve was full of drama and heartbreak. Luna discovered that Sirius had fallen in love with Remus when he was at Hogwarts. Remus didn't know what to do, and he still didn't know what to do. He ended up losing Dora to this drama, but she said she'd always be there if he decided that he would want her in the end—she also said that she wasn't going to try and have hard feelings on Sirius since he couldn't control his feelings for Remus.

Hermione ended up getting her Apparation license, but Ron didn't. The good news was that Harry got to have some time learning about splintering and how to properly calm down the patients once they had dealt with the splintering, which in return reassured everyone in the school.

Luna had ended up punching Cormac Mclaggen in the face after Harry ended up getting hit in the face with a Bludger. She still was proud of herself, in the end Cormac ended up having a permanent crooked nose from the incident.

Luna learnt about Draco being a Death Eater, but by force. He didn't want to be one to begin with but his life and his mother's was hanging in the balance. If he hadn't done it because he was trying to save him and his mother's lives then Luna was certain that her friends wouldn't know how to feel about him being a Death Eater. She had to admit that even she would have wondered if she truly knew her cousin.

Harry learnt the truth about Horocruxes and their affect that they held with the Lovegoods. It was taboo in her family, and Luna was certain that she would have lost her precious Harry if he went searching for a Horocrux. It turned out that it wasn't the Horocrux that she needed to worry about; it would end up being what had happened once he returned from his search.

Now they were at the memorial and funeral of their beloved Headmaster. Luna stood next to Harry, she wore a beautiful black floor length mourning dress that actually been worn by her mother in the past. A black mourning veil sat on her head, which was an odd contrast to her blonde curls.

Harry stood next to Luna and she silently allowed him to cry, she was numb to it all. A hollow sadness was in her heart, only because she knew how much the man meant to Harry, he didn't make a huge impact to Luna so she hadn't felt as much sadness towards this tragedy.

The Weasleys were at the funeral even though Bill had been attacked by Greyback, who was a rogue werewolf that was responsible for Remus's Lycanthropy. He had been attacked when he was a child, and now Bill had effects from being bitten by the man. He was heavily scarred like Luna's favorite Defense against the Dark Arts professor, but the difference was that Bill wasn't a werewolf like Remus was.

Once the funeral was over, Luna walked with Harry off away from the above ground tomb that Professor Dumbledore had been buried in.

"Hermione and Ron know that we need to finish what was started. We have decided that we will go and find the Horocruxes so that we can destroy Voldemort once and for all."

Luna looked off to the side, looking at the Black Lake before she quickly looked away as she was welcomed with the nightmares of the Triwizard Tournament. Now was not the time for those nightmarish memories.

"You came back from your mission with Professor Dumbledore. You have come back untainted; you do not have that fascination that my mum had. I can look at you and know that the only thing that you want to do is to destroy the Horocruxes. You are smart and you won't put yourself in the same position as Professor Dumbledore and have the Horocrux take control of you.

"It is with this that you have proven to me that you can and you will succeed in getting the Horocruxes but if you are about to tell me that I cannot be with you because I am your girlfriend then I will simply decline our breakup. I know that I will still be in the spotlight for being Draco's cousin, so it is no point in breaking up with me. You are stuck with me, through and through."

Luna looked at her boyfriend, finding that he was absorbing what she had said before he nodded his head. "To be the honest, I know that you wouldn't allow me to breakup with you, and the last thing that I want to do is breakup with you. So I suggest that we merely act as though we are broken up but secretly be together still, in order to make people believe that we have broken up."

"Will Ron and Hermione know the truth?" Luna craned her head to the side, while in the background she could see the distant black blurs which reassured her that the mourners were still by the tomb.

"Even if I told them that we broke up I am certain that they wouldn't believe me. They know us too much to know that we wouldn't break up, you wouldn't let me," Harry lightly teased her, making Luna feel reassurance that her Harry had a little bit of him still in him.

"I would ask you for one last kiss before you will have to go but I believe that the anticipation to kiss me once more when you have succeeded in killing Voldemort will make the kiss even better. So I will not kiss you," Luna told him, only for Harry to nod his head as though to confirm that this was the best thing for them now.

"I love you, Luna."

"And I love you, Harry."


	82. Rita's Scandalous Scoop

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_83:_**_ Rita's Scandalous Scoop_

**It didn't take **that long for Rita Skeeter to come out from hiding, having had something up her sleeve that she was planning on publishing. That so happened to be the most controversial book to be published, _The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore_, and it was something that Luna had to admit was of horrid timing.

Luna might not have been the biggest fan of Professor Dumbledore but she had respected him towards the end, especially when he had delivered Harry back to her from the mission that he had with him to find the Horocrux. Harry had yet to tell her what the Horocruxes were but she knew that he would end up telling her one day, and that was enough now for her.

Her daddy on the other hand was just mad that Rita Skeeter had come back into the picture and had grabbed the attention of everyone once more. He was often seen shaking his head and muttering, Mr. Waterborne would actually come over to their house sometimes but he dismissed Luna. Learning that she had 'broken up' with Harry was enough for him to not even look at her again.

She was sitting in one of the drawing chairs that were in the living room on the ground floor and was sketching out a portrait of her, Aunt Narcissa, Draco, and her mum so that they could be together. She didn't put her daddy in the picture; she knew that he wouldn't have liked to be in the portrait.

Yes her daddy still loved his Pandora but Luna knew that he still probably wouldn't care to have him sketched into a family portrait with Aunt Narcissa and Draco. Luna completely understood, and she knew that everyone deserved to have their own opinion for the most part.

There were the people out there though that didn't need to have an opinion because it was the worst thing that could be said. Those people happened to have the collection of Voldemort and his Death Eaters (minus her precious Draco of course), along with the rest of the evil people in the world.

Luna didn't know if what Rita Skeeter said was true, after all not that many people knew the truth about Professor Dumbledore. It was supposed to be about Professor Dumbledore's childhood and the truth about his family—mostly the truth about what had happened with Professor Dumbledore's sister, Ariana.

Luna left it at that, she was truly not interested in what had happened. There was always the grey sport between black and white that must be somewhat true and she didn't know what it was. It would be tragic, that was what she thought. There was always tragedy in stories.

She looked up from her sketch to see that Mr. Waterborne was talking about how the amount of people that were buying and subscribing to The Quibbler was at an all time low and he was afraid that within time they'd have to cancel the entire newspaper company.

Xenophilius gulped, his money was what kept them afloat and not being able to support his daughter and him was frightening. Luna on the other hand was not worried, "I can always work in town, if needed be. I've always been interested in Muggles, and I wouldn't mind helping them."

Mr. Waterborne dismissed her, "I wasn't asking for any solutions from you, Miss Lovegood. This is news that only your father and I need to discuss, and you are not needed here because the only thing that you are doing is eavesdropping. I would like for you to leave, if your father allows it," Mr. Waterborne said, turning to look at Xenophilius.

The man peered at his daughter, seeing that there was no hurt in her eyes. She didn't look as though she would be angry at him for choosing his boss's company instead of hers—or be on his side instead of hers.

"That is quite all right. I believe that I will go see Ginny." Luna stood up and put her sketch in her satchel once she had found it. She kissed her daddy on the cheek before she walked out of the house, shutting the door behind her.

The trek to The Burrow was a little longer than usual mainly because of the fact that she was soaking in the environment around her. She had always loved the summer and spring, and right now it was the perfect temperature. She wished that she could have Harry with her so that they could waltz in the fields.

Dancing in the fields was something that her parents did, and every time that she saw them doing that through the window she had fallen more in love with the thought of her finding someone to do that exact same thing with. It didn't have to be the same house, nor did it have to be the same field, but as long as they had somewhere outside that they could slow dance, well she would be happy.

When she reached The Burrow she beamed when she saw that Ginny was outside and she was looking at her garden. Neville was with her, he was complementing some of the flowers that he had seen flourish over the years. Luna skipped to them when they noticed her; Ginny rushed forward and hugged her best friend.

"I'm so happy to see you, Lune. I know that being away from Harry is hard, but I must compliment you. You are an amazing actress, along with him, if it weren't for the fact that we know that you are still together I would have thought that you would have broken up!" Ginny informed her, which made Luna nod her head.

"I'm not sad about it. It is what it is. I know that we are destined to be together, and I know certain that we will get through this. Harry will defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and we will eventually get married."

Neville blinked; having never met someone like Luna, she was so confident in her future that he admired that. He had hoped and believed that he would marry Ginny eventually, but he could see Harry and Luna marrying within the first two years after that horrid wizard would be vanquished.

"Do you mind if I bring some of your flowers home with me? I haven't had time to garden lately, I am certain that you have more passion and dedication for gardening. I'm always distracted," Luna asked, earning hasty nods from both Ginny and Neville. Even though the flowers were Ginny's, Neville acted as though both of them had owned the garden together.

Luna giggled some as Neville offered to go grab the vase for Luna, before he rushed into the house and left Luna with Ginny alone. Ginny focused her entire attention towards Luna. "Please tell me that you're coming to the wedding. I don't think that I can stand Bill marrying Phlegm."

Luna thought for a moment before she responded, "I heard that she was there for Bill though when he was attacked by Greyback. She said that she would continue with marrying him, and that she was proud of him. Are you not willing to give her a chance? I am certain that I would be in the same place as her. I would still love Harry all the same, and I am certain you would with Neville."

Ginny analyzed what Luna had said before she agreed, "I know that she makes Bill happy and she did say that she was proud of him. She still wants to marry him, and she finds no shame in his scars even though he does. So maybe I will give her a chance. It won't be as fast as you would like it to be."

Luna shrugged her shoulders, "I do not have a time limit for you to be able to appreciate and admire your future sister-in-law. You will do so in your own time; do not feel as though you do have a time limit."

Ginny turned her head when Neville appeared with the glass vase that Luna had made for Ginny all those years ago when she was little and painted flowers on it. She beamed again when she saw it and she placed the flowers into the vase before she turned to look at Ginny, "of course! I am coming to the wedding; I'll be the one wearing bright yellow. Just so you know."

Luna bid them farewell before she turned around and skipped in the direction of where her house was. She moved faster since she had her vase of flowers. She ended up putting it next to the photograph of her and her mother.


	83. A Not So Happy Birthday

_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_

**84:**_ A Not So Happy Birthday_

** Luna could honestly **say that she was okay with not meeting Harry's relatives. She knew all about them, of course. She didn't automatically hate them, she didn't pity them. They just were raised in a different world than hers. She couldn't stand though that they treated her Harry the way that they did. She hated how they didn't let him have magic, and that he had to wear hand-me-downs from Dudley, despite the fact that Dudley was extremely pudgy and bigger boned than him.

Tonight though was nearing Harry's seventeenth birthday and it wasn't like any other birthday weeks that he had before in the Wizarding World. He wasn't at The Burrow, and he wasn't getting secret cakes from his friends and eventual girlfriend while having to hide them under the floorboards.

No, tonight Harry would have his relatives go into hiding, through the Order of course. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and Cousin Dudley would go wherever it was that was decided for them to go to. Harry didn't know where they were going, no one really knew where they were going, and none of them were going to ask where his family would be sent to.

The blood protection spell that was placed around the property due to Harry being with a blood relative was evaporating tonight so it made complete sense to have his relatives be sent somewhere else. Or else they would have Voldemort and the Death Eaters come and kill them. Even if Harry didn't care for them (not caring was a strong word, to say the least) he still didn't want to see them murdered.

Luna would have gone with them to go and get Harry, since so many Order members were going to go and get him. They were planning on going on brooms and having Poly Juice that could make them look just like Harry in case Voldemort came so that he would be confused.

Only, Harry wanted her to stay with Sirius. Luna had agreed, knowing that it was the best thing to do. She wasn't going to whine, she wasn't going to put up a fight. She trusted her Harry and she knew that he would come back to her. She knew it without a doubt, for not even an inch of doubt ran through her mind.

So Luna was certainly not having a break down as she sat in The Burrow with Sirius. Him on the other hand, he was a nervous wreck as he thought of the two most important people that he loved—Harry and Remus.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost either of them. I would be able to be okay without Remus, though I love him so much. I don't think I would be okay without Harry, but Remus would be there for me…" Sirius turned to look at Luna as he paced across the worn out carpet in the living room.

"They won't die. I know for certain that they won't. The Ceneru are death spirits that are glued to your essence if you are close to dying, or are about to die. I see them, and I did not see any when I was last with Remus and Harry. They usually linger at least three days before you die. I have seen them before then, so they will be fine," Luna informed him and Sirius sat down next to her.

"Harry says that he can see some of the creatures that you can see…" Sirius apparently was trying to change the subject and Luna appreciated the effort. She nodded her head, "oh, yes. I had touched the hearts of the Aribta Comatti and they allowed him to see their usual forms, even though they haven't shown him their real form."

"How did you meet?" Sirius shifted so that he was focusing on her, and not on the random things that were in the living room. Ginny had wanted to stay here but Mrs. Weasley made her go and stay with the Longbottoms, which tickled Augusta Longbottom to death at the knowledge that Ginny was going to be staying.

"We met before the incident in the chamber, they were looking for Ginny and they ran into me. I always found him curious and we were very polite to each other, he told me that he didn't like being called the boy-who-lived and that he understood why I didn't like to be called 'Loony Lovegood" but it doesn't really bother me."

Sirius flinched from the memories of him not being there for Remus in the past. He remembered the prank with Severus and how Remus had almost attacked Severus. He could have killed him, and yet Sirius had taunted Severus to open the door so that Remus could truly slash him open. If it weren't for James then Sirius would have honestly been sent to Azkaban and Remus would have been killed.

"I am certain that Remus will always love you, Sirius. It might not be the way that you want him to love you, but it is your decision in the end to do what you want to do. You can still be there for Harry, but cut ties with Remus. Or you can be there even if Remus doesn't chose you," Luna softly told him and Sirius sighed as he nodded his head once more, knowing that what Luna was saying was the truth.

Luna got up from her spot in the living room and began to walk in the direction of where the kitchen was. "I'm going to make me some Gurdyroot Tea. Do you want me to make you a cup? I know that it is not everyone's favorite tea, but I do not mind making you a cup."

Sirius had yet to try the tea and agreed, not knowing until after she sat the cup in his hands that the disgusting smell was coming from the liquid in the cup. Luna was already drinking her tea, her mind blank for the time being as she peered around her and smiled at the Aribta Comatti that was drifting around her.

Sirius took a sip from the cup and almost spit it back in. He could tell that Luna had seen him do that action but she merely smirked in amusement at the blunt display that was in front of her.

As Sirius sat the cup onto the side table next to them everyone that had gone to the mission began to spill from the fireplace. Luna was welcomed with Harry but there were tears that were dripping down his cheekbones, while George had a bandage wrapped around his left ear.

George of course was cracking up, saying things about how his parents could actually tell the difference between him and Fred. Though he wouldn't be giving thanks to Severus Snape anytime soon, since you know he had his left ear blown from his head. He knew that he thought that Bill's piercings were cool when he first got them but this was going a little further than getting piercings.

Luna hadn't expected though for Sirius to jump up from the couch and rush towards Remus as he got out of the chimney. Dora wasn't here, but that might have been because of the fact that she had decided to stay behind at her parents (that was where they all went to as the safe house).

Everyone's mouths fell open and their eyes widened when Sirius threw his arms around Remus, pulled him flushed against him so that his shoes barely brushed against the ground, and then planted a seething kiss upon Remus's unsuspecting lips.

The only one that hadn't had eyes widened in shock and their mouth fall open was Luna, she merely craned her head to the side as though to see what Remus's response would be to what Sirius had done.

Remus was beginning to loosen up and he brought a hand up to brush his fingers against Sirius's cheekbone only to have his eyes snap open and he yanked his mouth away from his best friend's.

Sirius had slowly opened his eyes at this moment and looked at the curious look at his best friend. He dropped Remus to the ground and rushed out of the room, so that he could go outside and get some fresh air. Remus had his fingers come up and brush against his lips; he never thought that Sirius would kiss him (much less without permission!).

Remus on the other hand stumbled over to the couch and sat down before he sat there dazed. Luna knew that it wasn't the proper time to sit next to him so she got up and reached Harry before she took his hand and led him upstairs.

She sat him down on Ron's bed and turned to him, "I'm not going to ask you to tell me what had happened. I can tell that someone has died, or something. You may tell me eventually what it is. I will leave you for now."

Luna kissed him on the forehead before she stood up and shut the bedroom door shut behind her. She went down the hallway but flinched inwardly when she heard the sound of Remus crying in another bedroom, it was cracked open and Luna knew that he was nothing more than completely devastated at the fact that he didn't know what to do anymore.

She wished in that moment that there would be no more tears falling down Remus's face and that he would soon learn what and who he wanted. She would be there; they all would be there, for him no matter what.


	84. the wedding

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_85:_**_ the wedding_

** The casualties **from the mission that had transpired that night to relocate Harry were Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody. Luna didn't know anything about Mad-Eye, mainly because of the fact that she and her daddy had stayed away from things along with people that were connected to the Ministry. Aurors happened to fall into that category, especially ones that were blood thirsty, and so Mad-Eye was pushed to the side.

Luna had woken up early on the morning of Harry's birthday, knowing that he would be happy when he would see Amite. She had missed her best friend, Hedwig and Amite had gotten along swimmingly and had become like sisters. She had known without being told that her companion had died.

Fleur's parents had come early to stay at The Burrow for the wedding, and they happened to be there with Gabrielle. So Luna had without a doubt decided to stay at her own house, besides she missed her house.

So now she was heading over to the house with Amite flying next to her at face level. She hooted as she enjoyed the warm summer air, Luna enjoyed the air around her too. She was wearing one of her countless sundresses and didn't have any shoes on today. Her feet were completely bare and they had grass along with dirt caked on the soles of her feet.

Reaching The Burrow, Luna smiled largely when she noted that Harry was sitting at the large outdoor dining set that the Weasleys brought out in good weather. He was eating something that was sitting on the table. Ron must have been kept inside the house so that he could be a good side-host for the Delacour family.

Or maybe Molly didn't want there to be one less person separating her with Mr. and Mrs. Delacour. Gabrielle on the other hand was looking through the window that faced the picnic dining table—sighing dreamily as she peered at Harry, just another girl with a crush for the boy that had saved her life.

Luna really was one of a kind when it came to being a girlfriend. She never felt jealously towards any of the girls that Harry had been in contact with in the past. She knew that her Harry loved her, and that he would never cheat on her. She always felt sadness towards those who had been cheated on. What had they done to be punished in that manner?

She hadn't even noted that Harry had spotted her or the sound of Amite hooting happily as she rushed towards her late 'sister's' owner. She landed on Harry's shoulder and he petted her before he headed in the direction of where Luna was.

He wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled into his arms. "Hello, my love, I want to wish you a happy birthday. I feel as though we have been gifted with another year for us to celebrate each other's birthdays. I am so proud of you; please remember how strong you are."

Harry nuzzled the top of Luna's head and smelt the familiar scent that came with her. Sure she always had the slight trace of Gurdyroot tea on her but she always had a flowery scent that overcame that original scent.

"I love you, so much," Harry almost sobbed into her hair, since he knew that she would always be there for him. He had never thought that he would have a girlfriend, the love of his life, have such devotion towards him.

His mum had that towards his dad in their last moments.

"I know. As I love you too," Luna responded before she slowly pulled away and took his hand. She gently pulled him to the table before they sat down. The beautiful oak tree above them cast lineaments across them and the oak table.

"Has Hermione arrived yet?" Luna couldn't help but ask in the comfortable silence, but it wasn't comfortable now. It was tight and constrained, but it was to be expected since Hermione ended up having to swipe her own parents' memory to make sure that they would be safe—they were in Australia now. Their names were Wendell and Monica Wilkins; they didn't know they had a daughter.

"Yes, she's trying to be upbeat and happy but we all know the truth. In a way she lost her parents, they aren't dead to her but they might as well be in a manner. They don't have any memories of her; she's completely wiped their memories away. They never had her in their eyes," Harry admitted, which in return Luna sighed as she leant her head to the side once more so that she was against his arm.

As it would turn out it was the truth. Hermione came out eventually with Ron next to her. Ron had a look of sadness towards his best friend, as though he wanted to talk to her but knew that it would be pointless—especially when it came from him.

He had countless family members, his parents were a witch and wizard. He came from a pureblood line. Hermione had only her parents, they were Muggles and she was the first in her family line to be a witch.

The party was nice, nothing special. Luna wished that Sirius could be here to celebrate with them but she knew that he had wanted to stay away while he waited for the decision from Remus on what he would do. Remus was here and he was beaming with them, but Dora wasn't here either.

Harry received Uncle Fabian's watch from the Weasleys, he already had gotten his gift from Remus before the party (Luna didn't know what Remus had gotten Harry, but she wasn't going to demand that he tell her), and Luna gave him one of the countless sketches that she had made in the past where Harry was hanging out on campus with Hedwig on his shoulder or sitting near him.

A letter had been given to Harry, and he soon knew that he would have to go to learn what he had received from the will that Professor Dumbledore had made. Hermione and Ron were mentioned in the letter asking them to come with Harry since they too would receive something from Professor Dumbledore.

Luna was making a new quilt in The Burrow when she heard her boyfriend and her best friends come in through the front door on the day that they had gone to see what they had received from Professor Dumbledore. She didn't see anything that was in their hands, so she knew that it was something that was secretive—which also meant that Hermione must have put the items in her satchel.

"I will not ask what you have been bestowed with. I know that it is something that he has trusted you with, and that he will trust you to keep it secret." Luna didn't look up from the quilt this time, as she had looked back down when she noted that they didn't have anything in their hands, and she began to hum once more.

She had another pair of quilting needles fixed in her bun so that they looked odd but quirky in her hair. She was wearing a bohemian dress with a pair of her odd tennis shoes that were hand painted by her. These were sky blue with detailed cherry blossoms painted on the sides of the shoes.

Luna did not learn what it was that they had received in the letter from the will. She didn't ask them to see what it was that they had been given to by Professor Dumbledore. She didn't receive anything from him, and she had a feeling that the gifts must have been tools for the inevitable quest that they would have to go on when it came to destroying the Horocruxes.

She knew that Harry had told the others about her knowing of the existence of Horocruxes but she also had enough knowledge towards the fact that Harry wouldn't tell Ron and Hermione the truth behind Pandora Lovegood's obsession with Horocruxes. He didn't tell them about how her mother was obsessed with finding a Horocrux and how it would react in the presence of another Horocrux, one that wasn't composed of the same soul as the other.

Soon though the wedding came, and Luna was nothing more than a guest for a wedding. She loved weddings; she still had her mum's wedding dress locked away in her chest in her bedroom. So she thought that this wedding would be nice, though she wouldn't be able to enjoy it with her lovely Harry.

She did know though that it didn't matter, not really. She would have her dance with her Harry at the most important wedding there were, which happened to be their wedding. She already knew she was going to wear her mum's wedding dress and she would have Aribta Comatti floating around them wherever they walked and hovering around, along with wherever they danced.

She would have Harry pick out the cake; she knew that Harry loved cake. She liked it too, but the significance of cake between them was for him. She made cake for him; she never asked or wanted cake. So it would make sense that he would be the one who would pick out the flavor of their wedding cake.

So Luna wore a pretty sundress that was a cheerful yellow, she also wore a real daisy in her hair that kept blooming every few seconds before furling its petals together once more. She had on nice white heels for once, and people questioned how the small and skinny girl could walk around on grass without wobbling her ankles.

Luna smiled warmly when she was in front of Harry; he had been given Poly Juice of some local kid in the town below, and now looked like a weird chubby red haired boy with glasses named Cousin Barny.

Looking around, Luna found that no one was really paying attention to Luna. They had gotten so used to her and even the extended family of the Weasleys barely batted an eye at her. Sometimes they'd glance back at her every now and then but they hadn't truly been spell bound by Luna.

"Hello, my love. I have decided that you will choose what flavor our cake will be at our wedding," Luna whispered to him, which made him widen his eyes before he chuckled at what she had said.

"Thanks, love. Tell your father I said hi. Mrs. Weasley said that her family would think that I'm just some distant relative of theirs but they have really good memory. For looking like just another ginger I really do look different than their kin." Harry gazed at some of the elder women and men that were whispering to each other, wondering who it was that Harry really was related to.

The Weasley bloodline was full of people that liked Molly and Arthur along with their children, or they were full of people that were jealous that Molly and Arthur were blessed with a daughter. The women in the family were _married _into Weasleys; none of them were from birth.

The wedding was beautiful; Luna could tell that Fleur thought that Bill was the most handsome man in existence. Even with his horrid scars that were marred upon his face and Fleur having not one flaw upon her own features they looked as though they were meant for each other. Bill still had his long auburn hair pulled back in a neat ponytail with a brooch that Fleur's relative had given to the bride in the past but now was being worn by Bill.

Luna craned her head to the side and glanced at her boyfriend, finding that Harry was looking at the French bride and the British groom that were gazing at each other but nothing more. They had their eyes on the only thing, the only person, which mattered this very moment.

It was hard for them to understand what Fleur was saying, since she was crying in happiness. The congestion in her throat as she cried happily made it horrible since her accent was very thick.

Once the vows were said and they were proclaimed man and wife, Mr. and Mrs. William Weasley, the two of them rushed down the aisle. The reception was ready in a few moments and soon the bride and groom began to slow dance against the golden flooring below them out in the grass.

Luna didn't dance with anyone, she sat at one of the countless tables and thought of how her and Harry were going to have their wedding one day. Would they get married outside, or would they get married in a church? Did his parents get married in a church? She wouldn't mind getting married in a church.

She didn't know how long she sat there, watching as Harry communicated with the many amounts of Weasleys that were interrogating Harry. She then looked at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley dancing against the dance floor with happiness in their eyes, for a moment they looked like their youthful selves.

Everything was fine; everything was good, until Luna felt a chill run up her spine. Darkness appeared in the air and the wind picked up, enough for Luna to stand up and turn towards the flash of silver substance coming towards them.

Kingsley Shacklebolt's Lynx patronus appeared before them, and his message rang out with his voice spilling through the message, "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."

Then everything went to hell in a hand basket.


	85. The Age of Purists

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_86:_**_ The Age of Purists _

** They didn't have **time to say that they loved each other, for Luna knew that Harry, Hermione, and Ron needed to leave. She didn't rush towards him and press her lips against him but she peered at him in sadness as he disappeared with his best friends. He left his girlfriend amidst the chaos and Luna felt a few tears begin to rise in her tear ducts no matter how many times that she had claimed that she would not cry any tears because of this departure.

She had no doubt in her mind that Harry would succeed in defeating Voldemort. Her heart was full with the acceptance that she might be the only person alive that would know without a doubt that Harry would succeed in defeating Voldemort.

She stood there though, not paying attention to the movement that let her know of others that were running away and Apparating in order to get away from The Burrow. She instead looked at the spot where her boyfriend just stood, until she felt the hold of someone taking her arm and having them disappear within seconds.

Stumbling for once, Luna felt her eyes widen when she saw that they were standing in the square where Grimmauld Number 12 stood. She turned her head, noting that Remus was next to her and that he had Apparated them away from the wedding. She swore that she had not seen him at the wedding; he must have appeared at the last minute without anyone's knowledge.

"Come, I know that Sirius will protect you," Remus simply told her before he put his hand upon her arm and lightly tugged her in the direction of the house when it appeared. They entered and she was greeted with the same foyer as before though it was a little cleaner than before.

Footsteps thundered downstairs at the sound of the front door opening, before Sirius appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He took one longing, but shamed look at the man before him before he let his eyes land on his cousin. He went forward and wrapped his arms around her, before Remus motioned them into one of the parlors that were inside of the house.

Luna entered and sat down at one of the couches before Remus turned to Sirius. Sirius entered and Remus informed the man that loved him fully what had transpired at the wedding. Sirius kept his features tense, but relief was apparent in his irises when he learnt that Harry had managed to escape with Hermione and Ron.

"And of you, Moony, are you okay?" Sirius's fingers twitched with the want to touch Remus to make sure that he was all right. Much less he wanted to see if Remus would forgive him for kissing him without permission, he never wanted Remus to feel as though he would ever take advantage of him.

He had been overcome with passion right then and there, the man he loved was alive and he was not hurt. He had fought against Voldemort and he was alive, so the only thing that he could do was kiss the man that he adored.

Remus smiled softly as he thought for a moment before he stepped forward and reached his hand out. He touched Sirius's hand, a light brush that was a soft intimate moment, before he nodded his head, "I made sure to bring Luna here automatically. I had a bad feeling so I arrived shortly before this had all happened. I was determined to get Luna and bring her here."

Luna craned her head to the side before she turned to Sirius, "He forgives you for kissing him, Sirius. Of course I am certain that you hearing from him will make it more meaningful."

Remus flushed bright red before he nodded his head, "it is true, Padfoot. I do forgive you. It was sudden and abrupt but it was nice. Now is not the time to speak of these things, especially with Luna here."

Luna smiled warmly at them before she stood up from her spot at the couch; she reached them and hugged the both of them. "I always hope and wish that the both of you find the love that you deserve. With or without being together, I know that whoever you end up with is worth it all."

Pulling away from them, Luna turned on her heel and headed up the stairs so that she could go to the guest room that was for her. She had never entered Sirius's or Regulus's (Sirius's brother) bedrooms or her great aunt and uncle's bedroom.

Luna curled up on her side, lying against the cool surface of the satin as she peered around her. She was pleased that Sirius had someone go and get some candles to put in the room; after all it was her bedroom in a way. There were odd and quirky things in the room that screamed Luna in a way, and she knew that other people wouldn't care for the room.

She ended up falling into a deep sleep, not even knowing that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had arrived to get information when it came to Regulus. She didn't sense Harry entering the room and lighting the candles so that a sweet scent hit her nostrils, or him brushing his lips against her forehead in a tender manner.

Eventually though, Luna went back to her house. Her daddy was nothing more than frightened. He had thought that he had lost his daughter and while he was angry at Remus for taking his daughter, he was also grateful that Remus had indeed taken his daughter in order for her to be safe.

She received her letter for the things that she needed for her sixth year, and soon learnt that Professor Snape was to become Headmaster. She knew that a series of complicated emotions stirred in her, knowledge of how Severus Snape truly was and how he had killed Professor Dumbledore still fresh on her mind.

Luna was smart though, she wasn't in Ravenclaw for nothing, she knew that Professor Dumbledore must have known that he was dying soon (it must have been because of the Horocrux that he wore) so he had asked Professor Snape to kill him. Especially when Professor Dumbledore learnt that it was Draco that was supposed to be given the mission of killing the headmaster.

Now, Luna was in the Ministry and she was feeling irritation flickering through her. She kept her mouth shut, even when she turned the corner and saw that there was a corridor where all the witches and wizards were crowded in.

They, along with Luna, were having their bloodline tested to see if any of them were Muggle-born. She especially knew she would have to have her blood tested to see if she was a pureblood, despite the fact that everyone knew that she was a pureblood.

She also knew that they would be happy when they would find out that she was Draco's cousin. Being connected to two of the strongest pureblood lines meant that she would be treasured in that kind of sense. She didn't know how they would feel about her being the ex-girlfriend of Harry Potter.

"Lovegood, Luna."

Luna stood up from her spot on the bench and entered the room where her 'trial' was being held. She saw that it was dreary, dark and damp and it looked more like a court room that they had for dark wizards than a normal court room.

She looked up and saw that Professor Umbridge was sitting next to a dark aura filled man that must be the new minister. "You are, Luna Lovegood, am I correct?"

Luna sat down in her spot and fought the urge to flinch when leather belts appeared on the chair to lock her in place. She peered up at the ministry officials that were in the crescent shaped stand.

She tried her hardest to ignore the Dementors that were in the corner of the room, cold and dreary and ready to seek her happiness so that they could take it away, leaving her without a soul.

There were some in the corridor too, they were littered everywhere. They were apparently a favorite new use for the Voldemort led Ministry. They were mere black blurs in the corner of her eye.

"Yes, that is correct. I am the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood, and Pandora Lovegood. My mother is a Black, through blood and not marriage, though she was adopted by another family when she was a baby," Luna provided for them, her voice was clear and held no fear as she peered up at the Death Eater.

Pius Thicknesse, the Minister, looked down at the paperwork that was in front of him. He sighed as he looked back up at Luna Lovegood. "We need to take a sample of your blood to make sure that you are indeed a pureblood. If it is indeed true that you are the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood and Pandora Lovegood then you will be truly accepted into returning to Hogwarts."

Luna fought the urge to hiss when one of the Ministry officials came up to her and pricked her blood, before dropping it into a vial of other types of blood. Her blood shimmered a bright gold before going back to crimson, "It's true. Luna Lovegood is the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood and Pandora Lovegood."

"Thank you for coming to your trial. You may leave now," Pius Thicknesse drearily commented before he flipped through some more pages. Apparently when it came to those who were purebloods he was knowledgeable towards them being actual purebloods but those that weren't purebloods were going to have his attention more.

Luna knew that the school was going to be a lot smaller, due to the fact that the Ministry was making sure that no Muggle-borns were going to be allowed to attend Hogwarts. Salazar Slytherin's aspirations were almost true, after all the wizard wanted only purebloods at his school but Helga, Godric, and Rowena weren't going to let that happen.

Diagon Alley was full of darkness on the day that Luna had gone to get her supplies. There weren't that many people that were out and about, but those that were out and about were secure with the knowledge that they would not be on the bad side of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Chances were they were connected to a few Death Eaters, which added to their confidence.

Her mum was a wonderful woman, and she didn't turn out anything like her sister, Bellatrix. Then again, Pandora Lovegood had been pushed to the side when she was barely born. Still, Luna had a feeling that Pandora would end up like Sirius, she would prove that her bloodline wasn't going to determine who she was to become.

So even if Luna was a descendant of the Black bloodline, and the only true reason why she hadn't been completely pushed away by the Ministry to go to Hogwarts (they would probably claim she wasn't a pureblood if she wasn't related to the Blacks), Luna knew that one should not feel shame to being born in a dark bloodline if it meant that they could begin to purify it.


	86. evil settles here

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG ME_**

**_87:_**_ evil settles here_

**The night that **Luna arrived within the said school that she had once adored but now felt sadness towards was full of fewer students than before. The only ones that were left were ones that had ancestral magic in their veins. So many of Luna's friends had been denied entry into Hogwarts, but at least Neville was here. He was lingering, and she knew that he was here so that he could report back to the Weasleys that Luna was all right along with making sure that Luna would not catch the attention of the Death Eaters that roamed the school even more.

Luna entered the Great Hall, only to see that Professor Snape was sitting in the headmaster chair, and the faces of the Carrow siblings. She had heard that they were going to be professors at this school despite the blood thirst that they had. They were large, both in height and weight. They were dumb as bricks though, which caused more deaths than even Voldemort had requested only because people often insulted their intelligence.

She hadn't expected though to feel an arm wrap around her shoulder blades and pull her in the direction of where the Slytherin table was. Her heart clamped at the knowledge that she was going to be treated as a Slytherin now, she wouldn't put it past Professor Snape having Luna transferred to Slytherin so that the Death Eaters and Voldemort could have a closer eye on her.

Looking up, Luna saw that it was Theodore Nott that was keeping his arms around her as though he was trapping her. She did not hold fear; she merely craned her head to the side, and commented, "I am not completely surprised by the turn of these events. I am to be in the hold of Slytherins now. _He _wants to keep a closer eye on me."

If Theodore Nott wasn't wearing his robes she would have seen the Dark Mark that was on his wrist but she didn't have to see it to know that it was there. The slight flinch that was present in his eyes let her know that he along with the others feared Voldemort but Luna knew in the end Voldemort would die.

He didn't say anything but pushed her down on the dining table bench. She sat down and glanced around, finding that the Slytherins around her were either looking at her with disgust or confliction. Well almost everyone, Pansy Parkinson still glared at her with hatred towards the fact that she had lost Draco without truly having him.

Daphne and Astoria Greengrass barely even batted an eyelash, though Astoria was sitting closer to Draco. Draco on the other hand was sitting next to her and he had a look of sadness in his eyes. His posture was slumped. It was apparent that he never wanted this to happen to his dear cousin.

She reached out her hand and touched his hand, making him flinch as he turned to look at her, "I never meant for this to happen."

Luna merely smiled at him sadly before she shook her head, "I knew that eventually this might possibly happen, especially after I had to register my blood status. If it weren't for them taking a sample of my blood I would have been expelled from Hogwarts for not being a Black, in a way."

In the corner of her eye Luna saw that there were those that still looked completely bewildered by the knowledge that Luna Lovegood really was Draco's cousin. She dismissed them as she waited for Professor Snape to have his welcome speech towards the students and faculty.

"There is more. You are to move your things from Ravenclaw Tower and transfer your belongs to the Slytherin Dungeons. As of now you are a Slytherin, they find no need to accept the Sorting anymore when it comes to you," Draco whispered to her, which in return made Luna look directly at the Ravenclaw table.

Some of the students there were looking at her with complete sadness, some pity, but others were full of disgust at the knowledge they had been sitting at the same table that a descendant of a Black sat at.

"I am not surprised by this information. I know that _he _would have what he wants accomplished with no problems. I am glad that I will be in the same Common Room as you though, Draco," Luna responded, only for her to hear someone speak on the other side of the table.

"Are you guys secretly dating or something?" one of the boys that was in a year that was below both the sixth and seventh year asked, only for others to look at the boy as though he was an idiot. They did have a look of intrigue at the thought of Luna and Draco holding an incestuous relationship with each other.

"No. I love Draco, he is my cousin, but all my feelings for him are platonic. I hold no romantic feelings towards Draco."

Luna could hear Professor Snape clearing his throat before he began the speech, letting everyone know to keep their mouths shut due to the fact that there were Death Eaters that were professors now—along with the knowledge that they were certain they would be tortured with Crucio.

Luna began to eat once Professor Snape was done speaking, she could feel the pressuring eyes of the Carrow siblings. She knew that they were itching to corner her and speak idiotic words to her, taunting her and wanting nothing more than to see her become enraged by them.

She would not give them the satisfaction.

"I suppose that I am to room with Daphne, Pansy, and Millicent?" Luna probed to them only for almost all the table to stiffen. She knew that they valued having everyone called by their surnames. They already hated the fact that she called Draco by his first name, they thought that it was insulting despite them being cousins.

Pansy clenched her jaw hard enough that Luna wondered how the pureblood's jaw hadn't made her teeth scrap off completely. "Do not call me by my first name! I would watch myself if I were you, Lovegood. The last thing that you need to do is insult me, along with Greengrass and Bulstrode."

Luna knew that she would have to be straight to the point with them, to let them know that she was the cousin of one of Voldemort's treasured Death Eaters (even if he wasn't on best terms with him for failing to kill Professor Dumbledore).

"I believe that you threatening a cousin of one of _his _favorite Death Eaters… is not a good idea, Pansy. I have heard that he is always in a foul mood," Luna responded, knowing that she had made Pansy reconsider probably stabbing Luna in her sleep for disrespecting her.

Most of the Slytherins became paler in fear at the thought of word getting back to Voldemort on them bullying Luna. They knew that what she said was true, and they could possibly be tortured by Voldemort or Bellatrix Lestrange for insulting one of his precious Death Eater's cousin.

Luna didn't look up at Professor Snape, despite the fact that she could feel him staring at her. He knew that she and Draco were spies, basically, and that having two people that were on the good side in the Slytherin House was smart. If he had to use the cousin card to have Luna there he would do so.

Sitting across from her were Gregory and Vincent, they were both eating but were looking at her with interest. They were very intrigued with Luna sitting across from them, especially when they could see that she sparkled in the light like she was some pretty faerie.

Craning her head to the side, Luna smiled at them, "good evening, Gregory and Vincent. It is very nice to see you. If you ever need help with tutoring then you can come to me for help, and that extends to anyone who needs help in your classes."

Some of the Slytherins looked pissed at the fact that Luna would question their intelligence but others were known for not having the best grades. Having a previous Ravenclaw in their House could turn out good, especially if she had a study group for them.

Gregory and Vincent blushed some and faintly nodded, before they focused their attention on their food. Luna finished eating a few minutes later, knowing that she wasn't that hungry to begin with. Her mind was too preoccupied at the moment anyway, she didn't know how she would be able to write to Sirius or Remus or any of the others without having her letters read.

A brush of a hand on hers made Luna know that her cousin was holding her hand. She squeezed his hand in reassurance, which in return made him squeeze her hand back before he pulled his hand away. He continued eating, though Luna didn't know if Draco was truly hungry or was just doing it for show.

Eventually though the feast was over and Luna got up from her spot at the table, knowing that she would be heading to the Slytherin Common Room now. She didn't even look surprised when Professor Snape passed by her and flicked his wand, changing her robes to the colors of Slytherin.

A part of Luna laughed at the memory of Professor Slughorn claiming that Luna would be perfect if she was in Slytherin. She glanced over at him but he didn't have the same happy look in his eyes, he was petrified at what had become of his beloved school. He even looked sad when he saw that Luna was being forced to join his House, when he just wished she had been Sorted when she had come here.

Pansy was glaring at Luna, as though she couldn't believe that she had been given a new House just because the Dark Lord wanted her in the House. She had heard from her parents that this was the case, and it angered her immensely.

Luna on the other hand merely wrapped her arm around Draco's, making sure that they had their arms hooked together. If it weren't for the fact that everyone knew that they were cousins they would have thought that they were dating, but they did have a look of unsettling awkwardness appear at the odd sight.

"I do not think that I will look pretty in this shade of green. I liked my blue, it brought out my eyes. This color makes me look more washed out," Luna admitted as she sighed, missing her blue House color already.

Draco chuckled as he rolled his eyes, "trust me, most of us look washed out when it comes to the color green. If being extremely pale and having white hair basically means you look like a ghost in green then that would be evident in us."

Draco kept his arm around her, as though he was making sure that she would not be yanked away from him.

He knew that no one would dare try to charm or hex his cousin, especially when he knew that they would face the wrath of the Dark Lord now. Luna openly telling them that she was one of his favorite Death Eater's cousins made everyone know that just because she was a Ravenclaw that didn't mean that she could just be pushed aside—even more so since Luna was Harry's girlfriend.

"Daddy tried to make me not go back here. He doesn't want me here anymore, especially since Harry isn't here anymore. I had to remind him that I can take care of myself and if anything you are here to protect me. I have no doubt or fear in my mind that you will protect me," Luna informed him with a hushed voice, her voice was already very light and quiet so this made it almost impossible for someone to hear her speak unless they had cast an eavesdropping spell.

Draco sighed, "I will do anything in my power to protect you, and I know that you will protect yourself well enough for now. I just hope that he finds what he needs to in order to finish this."

Luna nodded her head, knowing that what Draco said was the absolute truth. She hoped that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would find the Horocruxes and destroy them soon.


	87. Malfoy Manor

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_88:_**_ Malfoy Manor_

** Life as a **Slytherin was anything but happy; Luna was in the den of snakes. She might be protected somewhat by Voldemort for being Draco's cousin but she knew it didn't mean anything to the Slytherins when she had to live her duration her sixth year with the Slytherins.

She had all of her robes taken and charmed to be turned into Slytherin robes, if that wasn't bad enough anything that looked as though it still represented Ravenclaw was being destroyed or confiscated. Luna was relieved that none of her family's heirlooms were in her chest or her suitcase; she had left all of her family heirlooms back home when she knew that she would have to come to Hogwarts this year.

Professor Snape would sometimes slip her letters from Molly and Arthur Weasley, along with Sirius and Remus. The saddest thing had to have been when Remus said that he couldn't be with either Dora or Sirius, he didn't know what to truly feel and he didn't know if he would even be good enough for either of them.

Dora had been devastated, from what she could hear her cousin had changed her hair to her natural hair color—that happened to be a dark brown. There was no life in her hair or in her eyes and features. She was merely there, dealing with a broken heart since this was the first man that she truly loved.

Sirius drank a lot more, he was a little snippier towards things that had to relate or remind him of Remus. He was quieter and never really contacted anyone; though he did contact everyone every now and then so that they would know that he was still alive. He didn't want them to think that he had killed himself because he couldn't deal with Remus not loving him back.

Millicent was often found going to Luna and asking for help when it came to homework, she was smarter than anyone thought the large girl was but she still wasn't that smart to begin with. She didn't have a good grasp on the whole Voldemort thing but she was still siding with him, though she did think that Luna was nice and that she helped her get good grades.

Pansy dismissed Luna, and she hadn't yet tried to loam over Luna when she was sleeping to stab her in her sleep. She had actually gotten to where she acted as though Luna wasn't in her presence, she wouldn't even look in her direction and when she did it was as though Luna wasn't there to begin with.

Daphne and Astoria would peer at Luna with their bland eyes, as though letting her know that they truly didn't have an opinion on the previous Ravenclaw. They were smart enough to know that there wasn't a secret taboo relationship between Luna and Draco so they didn't really see any reason to feel threatened by Luna. She wasn't going to mess with Astoria's betrothal to Draco.

She would sit in the Common Room, peering at the flames that were flickering on the logs. She would not look at the windows for she knew that they were looking out at the lake. She had already been in that lake, she had been drugged, she did not want to remember that blurriness and panic that came with the knowledge that she had been taken advantage of.

She was seen looking at the fireplace for some odd hours, sometimes in the middle of the night, for Luna did not know if she could truly sleep here. She also knew that when she was awake it was because Harry was having trouble sleeping, she felt that connected to him.

She had been so eager to have the opportunity to have Dumbledore's Army reinstated but she knew that it wasn't meant to be. She was being watched from every side, she could feel eyes on her at all hours of the day. There was not a moment that she couldn't feel someone walking down the corridors; she knew that wherever she went a young Death Eater would follow.

Today was the day that she was to go back home for Christmas Break, she was looking forward to seeing her daddy. Maybe then she would have the chance to relax, drink some Gurdyroot Tea, and then talk to him about idle things. Maybe for once she could act as though things hadn't completely fallen down hill for them all.

She wore a stunning emerald green winter cloak that she had been given a few days ago; the Black crest clasped the cloak together. She wore it without any arguments, for she had a feeling that it was Voldemort that had the gift sent out to her. He must have wanted her to remember that he owned her family, well that side of the family and he would soon own her too.

Draco went to the train platform with Luna, the both of them walking quietly and not saying anything. They were slow and neither of them gave big attention towards Astoria or Daphne Greengrass when they passed by them.

They merely glanced down at the black gloved hands that were held together, hands that belonged to both Luna and Draco. They were holding hands like they were little children again, but the sisters didn't know it was because Luna and Draco didn't know how long they could have with each other before things could turn sourer.

Daphne held disgust towards the sight and she hurried, while Astoria looked down at the hands before looking up at Draco. She almost seemed to be asking him with her eyes if they were truly just cousins and he gave a sharp nod, as though letting her know that she should not feel threatened by Luna.

When they reached the train platform Luna and Draco waited in line for them to board the train. Behind them they could hear the grumbling of some of the Gryffindor purebloods that had to carry luggage for the other Houses, so that they could put them up in their spots.

Neville was one of them and he had prominent bruises on his cheekbones, enough that let her know he was being beat up. He looked at her and looked at the intertwined hands that Luna and Draco had before he gave them a sharp nod in acknowledgement. He knew the truth about Draco and he was letting Luna know that he trusted Draco as long as Luna trusted him.

Entering the train, Luna was lightly pulled towards the compartment where their trunks and luggage were put into. Draco sat them down silently on one of the train compartment benches. Theodore Nott entered, along with Pansy Parkinson, and finally Vincent and Gregory.

Pansy sneered at Luna as always but Theodore was sitting next to Draco, since Draco had Luna up against the window. She didn't mind, since she knew that her cousin didn't want her to be sitting next to someone that wasn't him.

To comfort herself, Luna began to hum the lullaby that her mum had taught her. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what it was like when she would run throughout the fields with her mum, and how her mum would always pick her up before tickling her. She'd cover her daughter with multiple kisses and Luna would squeal in delight at the array of kisses.

She peered out at the beauty of the landscape around her, only to freeze as soon as the train ceased moving, knowing that something was amiss. She looked over at Draco, finding that he was getting up from the compartment bench and held out his hand. She would have furled her eyebrows but she knew that it was time for them to leave, she was certain that she was not going home.

Her heart raced in her chest but she tried to contain the nervousness that was coiled up tight, wanting nothing more than to be released. She stood up and let him take her hand in his before he pulled her out of the compartment while Pansy and the others followed silently behind the cousins.

Men and women with their Death Eater masks on let her know that the Death Eaters had stopped the train so that they could collect their young Death Eaters from the train. Their black robes created the aisles in the train to be even smaller, and although Luna knew that the Death Eaters were peering at her behind their disturbing aura filled masks she didn't look at any of them too long.

Getting off the train with the eldest Slytherins, Luna didn't turn to look at the students that were still on the train. Her heart clamped at the thought of any of them getting hurt but as long as they did what the Death Eaters asked they wouldn't get hurt. She hoped that Neville would listen to them for once, he had been known for speaking out. There were rumors that he was going to start the Dumbledore's Army again, though that was squashed.

Draco wrapped his arm around hers, making sure that she was as connected to him as possible before they reached the middle of the dead grassed field that they had been going to. Around her Death Eaters were Apparating away with some of the Death Eaters from Hogwarts.

She nodded her head, letting Draco know that he could apparate them away now. She felt the odd sensation wrap around her before she landed on the front doorstep of the Malfoy Manor. She knew the only reason that they could actually do this was because they were blood bound to the property; others would have to appear outside of the main gates of the manor.

Draco opened the front doors and Luna entered the great foyer. She peered at the marble flooring, the mundane artwork. She felt a wave of darkness rise though and clamp itself on her, making her gasp as she almost felt her knees give out under her. She should have known that this darkness would be here, she should have known that Voldemort would be housed here.

"Luna? Luna!"

Luna fell onto the hard marble below her, flinching as she reached her hands up and tried to focus on having the dark energy around her dissipate. She knew though that it wouldn't work, as long as she was on this property she would become sicker from the evil that was here.

Loud high heels clicking down the marble staircase barely registered in Luna's ears before she heard gasping and the falling of someone. She felt arms wrap around her and hold her close to them; she knew automatically that it was Aunt Narcissa.

"Oh, Luna, my precious Luna, I'm so sorry that you're here!" Aunt Narcissa cried softly as she began to rock her niece back and forth in a motherly manner.

Luna felt her whole body clamp together before she moved away from her aunt and threw up, knowing that she couldn't stand this energy anymore. She knew that there was only one reason why she was even throwing up to begin with, she was certain that it was Voldemort that was appearing.

"Oh, what is this, Narcissa? Is this the niece of yours that I requested?" Voldemort probed to Narcissa Malfoy, but Luna could only shiver and lean against her aunt. She denied herself from looking up into those crimson eyes, or to look at the horrid features of the dark wizard.

"Yes, my Dark Lord. This is my twin sister's daughter, Luna Lovegood. I have had Draco bring her here for you," Narcissa managed to say without a beat, her mental shield always up and prepared whenever she would be around Voldemort. Inwardly she thanked Severus once more for saving her and Draco's lives.

Voldemort gave his cruel smile, before he reached his hand out and held it out for Luna. Luna tried to bring her arm up but she still felt very weak from having just thrown up. He noted that and reached his hand down to grab her by the arms to pull her up, despite the fact that she smelt like vomit.

"I am pleased to be finally seeing you, **_Luna_**. You are very beautiful, but I believe that you would be even more beautiful if Narcissa gets you dolled up and bathed before you come back down here. I have news that I would like to share to you, along with Draco," Voldemort explained, only for Luna to wobble some, still not on her feet properly.

Luna felt Aunt Narcissa pull her away from the Dark Lord before they headed up the staircase. Behind them they could hear Voldemort barking one of the low life Death Eaters to clean up the vomit that Luna had produced. Even though he could have easily spelled it away Luna was certain that he was making them clean it by hand for punishment.

Aunt Narcissa didn't say anything when they entered one of the glamorous bedroom chambers, knowing that it wasn't worth trying to say anything. If Aunt Narcissa or Luna spoke out against it Draco could easily been murdered, or even Aunt Narcissa. Luna would not allow this to happen.

Luna was bathed by Aunt Narcissa; there were no sweet perfumed flowers that were floating in the bathwater. There were no candles that were lit, prepared for Luna to have a wonderful bath so that she could be dressed to perfection. It was just normal hot water, and normal light that glowed in the bathroom.

Aunt Narcissa allowed Luna to bathe herself but washed Luna's hair for her. She rubbed through Luna's scalp and the girl sighed, forgetting for the moment that she was in a manor where Voldemort was. She soon stiffened though when she could still feel the faint essence of dark magic.

Getting out of the bathtub with her aunt's help, Luna permitted Aunt Narcissa to dry her before she pulled out a beautiful green dress that flowed down to the floor. It had long sheer sleeves and the neckline was almost scandalous, stopping right where it was still modest but almost too low cut.

Her hair was brushed out and one of the Black Crest hairpins clipped the top of Luna's hair back. A little bit of makeup was put on Luna's features and finally some nice black heels were strapped to her feet.

Luna allowed Aunt Narcissa to wrap her arm around her niece's in order to make sure that Luna wouldn't drop to the ground once again. Voldemort might have allowed it once but he rarely gave second chances.

Aunt Narcissa gently led Luna down the stairs so that they could enter the dining room. That was the preferred spot where he liked, and when they entered Luna could see all the members of the Death Eaters were sitting in their spots, their eyes peering at Luna with nothing more than weariness and disgust.

Aunt Bellatrix sat to the right of Voldemort, her hand sitting on the table and near Voldemort's. She was staring directly at him; she had nothing more than true adoration towards the evil man in front of her. She paid no attention to her husband. Everyone knew that she never loved her husband.

She didn't turn to look at Luna, which really made Luna feel a little braver when she looked at Voldemort finally. He smiled at her, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. He ushered for her to sit next to Draco and she sat down. She reached her hand out and took Draco's in hers, squeezing his hand.

"When I found out that Draco had a secret cousin, one that was hidden from true pureblood etiquette I knew that I had to do something about it. I was pleased when I learnt that you are very loyal to each other. That is not as common as it should be, purebloods should be bound together. There is no need to kill purebloods, but those who are weak and are imbeciles needed to be taken care of," Voldemort spoke as Bellatrix managed to touch his hand.

He snapped his head towards Bellatrix and instead of showing complete fear, she showed some but she pouted when he turned his attention back to Luna. She had failed once again to woo the man that she loved. She retracted her hand but listened still to him, hanging on every word.

"I have seen no reason to have children, they are not personally important to me. I do though want my loyal followers to continue to reproduce. If they have to in the end do so with their own family members then it must be done. That is why I have decided that one couple that is family and young should be made an example of," Voldemort explained, the whole time showing nothing more than patience.

Luna had a feeling that she knew what was about to happen. She could note in the corner of her eye that Aunt Narcissa was trying not to stiffen. She could also note that Aunt Bellatrix had both anger and sadness in her eyes, Luna knew about the miscarriage. It was simply not meant to be.

"I have decided that the first couple that is family to produce the next generation of my followers shall be Draco Malfoy and Luna Lovegood." Voldemort looked around, there was danger that was lurking his eyes and his hand itched to grab his wand so that he could send the Killing Curse to anyone that dared to deny his decision.

Luna felt herself become faint, and she pushed her chair back without thinking. Voldemort looked at her carefully, knowing that he would like to have her around so that she could produce an heir for the Malfoy family.

Draco stood up and grabbed Luna's shoulders, showing nothing more than concern. He turned his head towards Voldemort and gulped, "my dark lord, I plead for you to allow me to take Luna up to her chambers so that she may rest. I am certain that she is overcome with joy that her body cannot take it all at once."

Voldemort craned his head to the side, peering at Draco and then Luna before nodding his head, "I allow it. I still wish for Narcissa to chaperon you, though I am pleased to see that you are already being a docile husband to your future wife."

Luna fought the urge to vomit again, knowing that she had to keep her vomit down. She managed to speak, "thank you, my lord. I am honored to be the one that has been allowed to have this opportunity to prove to you that you will have another future follower from Draco and me."

"Of course, Draco please, I would like you to take Luna to her chambers. Narcissa make sure that she is cared for. The wedding will take place after I have defeated Harry Potter once and for all."

Once Luna was situated into her chambers she cried, her heart feeling hollow for once. She could not believe that she was being forced to marry Draco. There had been rumors that she and Draco were in a secret incestuous relationship but now they were forced into a loveless future incestuous marriage.

It was even worse when she imagined innocent purebloods being forced to marry their family members, siblings or cousins. Those that were at Hogwarts right now had no idea that this was what Voldemort was planning when it came to him creating a new generation of followers.


	88. the dark betrothal

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_89:_**_ the dark betrothal _

** Aunt Bellatrix **or "Auntie Bella" was the aunt that was chosen to teach Luna the true traditions that a pureblood should have, the lifestyle that was appropriate. She had her hair as wild as ever, her eyes flickering around the room at random moments, and her wand in her hand. She spun the wand without even thinking, as though she would shoot anyone with the Killing Curse that would enter the dining room.

Voldemort sat in a beautiful pure silver throne in the back of the dining room, with Nagini curled around the throne. She would often slither towards Luna as though she was hoping to cause Luna fear but the girl merely looked down at the snake and tried to control her breathing and heartbeat.

As long as she listened to what her aunt wanted her to do, and take notes from Voldemort, Luna was certain that the snake would never strike her dead. She was determined to live, to be able to do what she had to in order for Harry to be successful in finding the Horocruxes so that he could destroy Voldemort.

Entering the dining room one morning in a beautiful Victorian noblewoman's dress, Luna found her cousin in the dining room with her eccentric and possibly schizophrenic aunt. He was dressed to be a nobleman in the same era as Luna, and just like her he had an uncomfortable aura around him.

"Good morning, Luna. I trust that you had a good night's sleep; I know that it must be unappealing to wake up at such an early hour but I assure you that it is for the best. To be a proper pureblood you must wake early in order to succeed and conquer the day," Voldemort explained as he allowed Nagini to slither on him so that he could brush his fingers against the snake's scales.

"I had a wonderful night's sleep, my Dark Lord. I am getting used to my sleep schedule," Luna responded, it was true. Aunt Narcissa always managed to sneak into Luna's bedroom to give her some sleeping potions in order to make sure that Luna would get some actual sleep.

Voldemort made a curious noise as though he was digesting what she was telling him before he brought his hand up and waved it, "I have decided that you and Draco will have breakfast together in front of your aunt and me."

Luna didn't know how she would be able to eat when it was just her and Draco, Voldemort and Aunt Bellatrix. It was easier when Voldemort was distracted during busy meals but to have his attention focused solely on Luna and Draco meant that he could critique them. He could strike her with Crucio in order to make sure that she would learn her lesson.

As though he knew what she was thinking, Voldemort chuckled, "you must not be so nervous, my dear. You are a vital member of my followers. You will carry the first future Death Eater from your generation. You must learn to calm yourself. As soon as you are pregnant I will be satisfied."

Luna nodded her head, but then decided to curtsey to Voldemort at the last moment. The whole time the only thing that she wanted to do was spit in his face. She loathed him with entire being. She was certain that Voldemort would be withering in agony when he would go to Hell.

Voldemort smiled when she stood up once again, "I am pleased that you have shown me the proper respect that I deserve. You will learn fast, I am certain of it."

Voldemort paused to stroke Nagini again, "enough brown nosing me though. If it is one thing that I cannot stand it is trying to compliment me into being higher thought of by me. You must earn your way to be in a high position such as Bellatrix."

Voldemort reached his hand out and Aunt Bellatrix eagerly made her way towards him. She picked up his hand and kissed it, as though she was kissing the hand of a king that deserved it. He would be a king that conquered his land and kingdom by pure bloodshed and death, along with human sacrifice.

Aunt Bellatrix could possibly be his mistress, or his consort, but that was enough imaging what it would have been like if they were a king and queen (consort). This was not destined for them.

"Begin, I have been given word that your mother had taught you to waltz. Please, I would like for you both to perform the waltz," Voldemort instructed, before classical music began to play.

Luna turned to look at Draco and reached forward so that she could put her hands on his shoulders, he put his around her waist. She didn't feel disgust at him holding her, she knew that they were only doing this because Voldemort requested for them to do this.

Luna began to hum as they began to dance, giving Draco reassuring smiles. He didn't let any of his features reveal how he truly felt.

"I've always wanted us to waltz together at my wedding," Luna admitted to Draco, because she knew that as long as she continued to believe in Harry (there was no way that she would not believe in her Harry), she would dance one day with Draco at her wedding. In a way Voldemort was testing her faith, he was making a mockery of her future decision at her wedding, but it wouldn't work.

"Ah! Beautiful, Beautiful, I am so pleased by this!" Voldemort cried out, clapping his hands together while his crimson eyes were showing nothing more than content with how things were playing out.

"My Dark Lord, allow me a dance?" Aunt Bellatrix fluttered her eyelashes and tried to make her face softer, more seductive even though there was no way that any right man would think that Aunt Bellatrix was beautiful.

Voldemort gave a once over at his right hand 'man' and then began to caress Nagini's scales. He was obviously testing her to see how long she would go without an answer before she would snap at him. He found that she wasn't going to do that anytime soon and sighed, "Perhaps if things go accordingly we shall have a dance at their wedding. Only, I remind you, if we have a wedding for them."

Luna craned her head to the side every time she was spun around by Draco and looked up at Voldemort and her aunt. Aunt Bellatrix frowned some but nodded her head, "of course, my Dark Lord. It shall be done, I will make sure that my nephew and niece will be married."

Luna turned her attention to Draco, "if it makes you feel any better, you look very handsome, Draco. I am certain that whoever you marry will be a lucky lady indeed. I am proud of you."

Draco gave her a light smile, and looked as though he wanted to hug her, but knew that it wouldn't end up going well because Voldemort might think that he was going to kiss Luna. "That means a lot, Lune."

Eventually the classical music stopped and Voldemort spoke up, "I would like for us to be seated for us to have our breakfast. I was eager to watch you dance before we eat. We will pick up the dance lesson after lunch."

Luna sat down in her assigned seat, which was on Voldemort's left side (he sat at the very end of the dining table, closest to the throne), and Draco sat to her. He always put his hand in hers and Voldemort never batted an eyelash towards the little intimate moments the cousins shared.

Two House Elves appeared and began to put food down onto the dining table, not looking Voldemort straight in the eye. Aunt Bellatrix sneered at them, and dared the House Elves to do something that would end up making her Crucio them or use Arvada Kedavra.

It didn't help that Nagini, she was sitting on the silver throne, slithered off of the throne and made her way in the direction of where the House Elves were. When she reached them she slithered around them, almost curling her body around both of the House Elves (she was that long). The House Elves cowered even more, expecting for Voldemort to tell them that they were appetizers.

"Nagini, you already had your breakfast. You'll have your next House Elf tomorrow," Voldemort reminded her, which in return made Nagini flicker her tongue at him before she went back towards the silver throne.

The House Elves left as soon as they heard that. Voldemort ignored them, though Aunt Bellatrix began to cast spells at random things, which made the House Elves scurry even faster. Voldemort sighed at this and reached his hand out so that he could take hers in his; she stopped and flushed at the attention she was receiving.

"Calm, my Bella, you will have your fun later," Voldemort told her, Luna could tell that he had started to act as though he adored Aunt Bellatrix. If he had her thinking that he adored her to the moon and back she would do anything for him.

Luna ate slow, but not too slow, as she felt the calculating eyes of both her aunt and Voldemort. They were studying her, and she knew that before long she would be asked to do a wedding dress fitting, so that they could know what kind of wedding dress she would end up wearing.

She answered them when they asked her questions. She knew that there was no life that was resonating out of both of their eyes. She felt Draco squeeze her hand and for once she leant over so that she could rest her head against his shoulder blade. She could feel him stiffen for a second, but then he ran his fingers through her hair, as though he was going to make sure that she was all right.

"Ah! I knew that I made the perfect decision when it comes to having the both of you be the first ones married. Your wedding will be the wedding of all weddings; I can assure you of that!" Voldemort picked up a biscuit roll and began to eat it, while Aunt Bellatrix ate her sausage links.

"May I be excused, my Dark Lord?" Luna managed to ask, her eyes flickering up to the crimson eyes that were looking directly at her. She made sure that there was no fear in her eyes, and he nodded his head.

"You may be excused, do not change out of your dress. I had it specially made for you, the same goes for you Draco. I will have others made for you," Voldemort explained, only for Luna to nod her head before she stood up and walked out of the dining room—shutting the large doors behind her.

She leant against the doors, before she looked towards the front doors. She waited every day for her to be greeted with Harry coming and getting her, or she would wait every day and wonder how far Harry was. She knew that he was working to get rid of the Horocruxes but how long was that going to be?

She was only thankful that she would marry Draco after Voldemort would succeed, which was never.


	89. Auntie Bella

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_90:_**_ Auntie Bella_

** Every day **Luna found that it was circulated around getting her prepared to get married. They had just done her measurements so that they could see about getting the right sized wedding dress for Luna to wear. She was told that she would not have anything that was remotely blue or red in her dresses or her wedding, it was apparent that they didn't want to see anything that would remind them of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

Luna was mentally preparing for this to happen, what she had planned to happen. She had sworn that she would never kill anyone. She never thought that she would ever kill anyone mainly because she had never been in a situation like this. She had never thought that she would be captured by Voldemort and be forced into the company of her schizophrenic aunt.

Today though Luna wore her best dress, along with making sure that her hair was perfect. Beautiful and dramatic makeup was put upon her face, and she knew that she looked like a mini Aunt Bellatrix to some extent. She had the tight black Victorian Era dress with a ribbon tied corset, along with high black heels.

Draco had come to escort her down to the dining room, pausing when he saw Luna. He let his eyes flicker from her head all the way down to her heels. He frowned, knowing that he was looking at a blonde version of his aunt in a way.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Draco probed to her, caution lighting in his voice. He knew that his cousin would never become a Death Eater or become the wife of a Death Eater. Still, for her to be dressed just like Auntie Bella meant that there was something that was going on.

"It's time," Luna responded, which in return made Draco widen his eyes at the fact that he had a feeling that she was going to do. "No, you can't do that. I will do it; you don't deserve to let that be on your conscious."

Luna spoke this time, knowing that what she was going to say was going to remind Draco of the Astronomy Tower, "You were assigned to kill Professor Dumbledore, yet you hesitated when you were given the opportunity to do so. I will not have that hesitance, Draco. I will never regret killing her."

Draco blinked a few times, having not expected that reaction from her. He sighed and nodded his head, "I will help if needed be. Just let me know."

Luna nodded her head, letting him know that she would just do that. She reached her arm out and Draco wrapped his arm around hers so that he could take her down to the dining room.

Different Death Eaters were walking back and forth in the manor, doing whatever it was that they were supposed to be doing. Luna did not blink at any of them, though they did pause some when they saw that Luna looked as though she was truly a Black.

The only thing that seemed to make matters worse was when Aunt Bellatrix appeared from the dining room, the doors slamming open. A Death Eater got hit and went flying back, hitting the floor and landing on their arse. They glared up at Aunt Bellatrix but she didn't pay attention to them.

When Aunt Bellatrix looked up towards the stairs for once she had a bright smile on her face. She clasped her hands together and rushed forward to her niece. Luna didn't have time to react when she reached the foyer; Aunt Bellatrix put her hands on Luna's shoulders before she looked at her properly.

"For once you are dressed properly, I am pleased with this development. Come, I am certain that the Dark Lord will be pleased with your ensemble also." Aunt Bellatrix reached out so that she could put her hand in Luna's. Aunt Bellatrix had a cool touch to her hands, as though death had already retired into her bones.

The doors opened and Luna was welcomed with Voldemort sitting at his throne, once again. It had become a familiar sight and he craned his head to the side when he saw that Luna was dressed like Aunt Bellatrix.

"This is a peculiar sight to be welcomed with this morning," Voldemort noted as he looked at Luna. "If I may speak forwardly, my Dark Lord…I would like to give my opinion towards her attire?"

Voldemort let his eyes look down at Nagini, who was slithering towards both Luna and Aunt Bellatrix. Luna kept her eyes on Voldemort and dismissed Nagini as she slithered up Luna's feet, then legs. He slithered all the way up and then continued onto Aunt Bellatrix. Aunt Bellatrix smiled at the snake as she hissed at her, before Nagini went down Aunt Bellatrix and began to head in the direction of Voldemort.

Nagini hissed at Voldemort, who listened to her intently before he let his eyes wander away from his beloved snake to the two Blacks that were in front of him. He craned his head to the side and tapped his fingers against the armrests, "It seems as though Nagini has passed judgment on you both and has approved of the choice of attire. We do not need your opinion on Luna's attire because it is obvious that you approve of her choice of attire."

They didn't expect though for the dining room doors to slam open and a Death Eater to come rushing towards Voldemort. "My Dark Lord, word has spread that they have suspected that they have found Harry Potter!"

Voldemort sat straight up, before he sent the Crucio spell to the Death Eater. He crumbled on the marble flooring, "I would suggest you not barge in no matter the news. I am pleased of this development, but if I find out that this is not Harry Potter then I will be certain to kill you."

Eventually Voldemort stopped casting the Crucio spell on the Death Eater, which allowed the Death Eater to stand up and began to head towards the dining room doors again. He fought the urge to limp, and Luna could tell that if the Death Eater showed any type of weakness he would have been killed then and there.

Luna knew during this whole time that she couldn't show that she felt any emotion towards the subject of her boyfriend being captured. She knew in her heart that it was him, and that he must have something up his sleeve to allow himself to be captured. There must have been a reason!

"Ah! Luna, my dear, come stand next to me. I am certain Harry Potter will be shocked to discover his previous lover is now a Death Eater's fiancée," Voldemort decided, noting that Luna didn't reveal any emotion towards him pointing out the fact that she was Harry Potter's ex-girlfriend.

"Of course, my Dark Lord," Luna responded before she headed towards him and stood next to him. Draco came and stood next to Luna, putting his hand in hers. Aunt Bellatrix looked as though she wanted to plop down into Voldemort's lap but instead stood on the other side of the throne. Voldemort allowed her to take his hand in hers.

It felt like forever, but when Luna was welcomed with Harry, Hermione, Ron, and even Dean being yanked into the dining room she felt her heart stop for a split second. Harry was extremely hexed at so his face was very puffy. Hermione stood calm and collected, her eyes flickering towards Aunt Bellatrix first and then Voldemort. She paused when she saw that Luna was dressed like Aunt Bellatrix—not only that but Draco was standing next to her and was holding her hand.

Ron was beaten up, a good bit, having fought off against them but had been subdued. Dean was about the same, though Hermione had not one scratch on her face she did look as though something had happened that she didn't want to talk about—her eyes had a haunted look in them.

Luna fought the urge to not flinch when Aunt Bellatrix confronted them about the fact that Godric's Sword was taken from Aunt Bellatrix's vault, automatically going to Hermione. She smiled wickedly and told the snatchers to take the others to the cell so that she could have a one-on-one moment between her and Hermione.

Luna noted that Hermione's face became whiter than snow, her eyes flickering towards Luna. She didn't know what to think, she didn't know if Luna would save her or if she would have to stay there and be the perfect Death Eater's wife (this was the obvious role that Voldemort wanted Luna to be given).

Aunt Bellatrix cast a Crucio on Hermione to make sure that Hermione would stay in place. She slowly turned so that she could see that Luna was still standing where she was, and most of all Luna wasn't even crying or begging for this Mudblood to live! It meant that this was a moment that would show Luna's true loyalty.

"Come, Luna! I want you to do the honors! This will test your true loyalty towards our Dark Lord!" Bellatrix cried as she held out her trademark silver dagger. Luna knew that dagger had cut through many skins; this dagger was known for killing people in cold blood.

Luna took a deep breath before she pulled her hand away from Draco's; she made her way forward and could tell that Hermione's eyes were full of tears. She was twitching, screaming in agony and it only added to the fear that Hermione had when it came to the thought that Luna would possibly stab her to death.

In this moment Hermione didn't know what Luna would do. She always knew that Luna was good, but could Voldemort have gotten to her? Could he have tortured Luna to make her do his bidding? Could Bellatrix have tortured her niece in order to make sure that she would do her bidding?  
Luna crouched down so that she was sitting next to Hermione's twitching body, Aunt Bellatrix grinning even wider at the fact that Luna hadn't told her that she wouldn't do it, but she soon would learn that this wasn't the smartest thing that she could do.

Aunt Bellatrix sat the dagger in Luna's hands and presented Hermione's arm to her niece as though she was showing her the proper place where she should torture her, "right here. I want you to carve Mudblood on her arm."

Luna put the dagger over Hermione's arm and had barely created blood on the surface of Hermione's arm before she turned and slashed her aunt across her jugular. In seconds her aunt fell backwards so that she could peer at her niece in betrayal, she tried to speak but she kept choking on her blood.

Hermione gasped for breath when the connection of the Crucio was broken, scrambling up so that she could see that Bellatrix Lestrange was dying from having her throat slashed open.

Voldemort stood up slowly and began to clap his hands together, slow and sweet. Luna hadn't even noticed that her face was wet with blood that had splattered across her cheeks. Some of it even hit her blonde hair, making her look like a true Death Eater in that moment.

"Very good, Luna, only a true Death Eater would kill another Death Eater! I am pleased! You are truly a Death Eater now. The only thing left is for you to finish off this Mudblood yourself! If not then Nagini will."

Nagini perked up at the possibility of her eating the girl that was on the floor. She didn't know how to feel about that girl that killed Bellatrix, but she was pleased that blood had been spilled.

They didn't have a chance to make their next move, the sound of an explosion in the distance let them know that Ron and Harry had managed to escape. They ran through the manor and into the dining room, pausing when they saw that Luna held a bloody dagger and the corpse of Aunt Bellatrix off in the distance.

"S-she saved me," Hermione managed to stutter before she shakily stood up and ran towards the boys. They wrapped their arms around her, happy that Hermione had not been tortured so ruthlessly. Though they didn't know that Luna would ever kill someone, much less Bellatrix Lestrange, but here they were in that very situation.

In seconds Death Eaters came storming into the dining room, though they paused when they saw that Luna was holding the bloody dagger and Voldemort's right handed man was on the ground, dead.

By now Luna had stayed still, her eyes looking at Harry and pleading for him to know that she had never meant for it to be like this. She was always a pure soul, but pure souls never killed their aunts in cold blood, even if the sadistic aunt was trying to have you murder your best friend.

Tears began to gather in her tear ducts and Luna felt her hand loosen up enough for the dagger to fall down onto the ground in a cascading thud. She reached her hands up and ran her fingers through her hair, dismissing the sound of the duels that were happening around her.

She didn't know what she would do if she learnt that Harry couldn't love her anymore just because she had murdered someone. She had never promised him that she would never kill anyone, as far as she knew, but she never thought that she would have to promise him that.

"Luna! Watch out!"

Luna barely had time to react before she felt an arm wrap around her and hold her close to a body. She shivered in disgust at the male that was holding her, "stay still, the Dark Lord wants you still alive. Come with me."

Luna tightened her hand into a fist, ready to gut punch the man in the stomach but it was too late. In seconds she felt the air around them begin to blur. Her eyes were just on Harry, who was staring at her with tears running down his eyes, knowing that his girlfriend was being kidnapped once more by a Death Eater.

She soon stumbled when she saw that she was in another glamorous manor. This one wasn't as dark as the Malfoy manor but still was quite dreary. The man that stood in front of her moved away from her and studied her behind the silver mask he wore.

"Daddy, what is the meaning of this?"

Luna turned her head, being greeted with Pansy Parkinson standing not that far away from her in the parlor of the manor. It was apparent that Mr. Parkinson had been the one who had apparated her to his house.

Of course there would be another manor that would be her safe house for the time being, she would easily be transported to other manors if each one was being attacked when she was in them.


	90. Pawn

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_91:_**_ Pawn_

**Pansy **scowled at Luna, her dark eyes gleaming with hatred. Her bob-cut hair that brushed against her ears was perfectly straight and she wore an expensive olive colored blouse, dark dress pants, and black heels. Large and stunning diamond earrings hung from her ears. Beautiful makeup was painted upon her face and she folded her arms against her plump chest.

"Why are you bloody? Did someone try to kill you or something, and you're injured? Wait no…that can't be it." Pansy craned her head to the side before she made her way towards Luna, her high heels clicking against the marble flooring. The fireplace was lit behind them, casting strange lineaments across the room.

"Not now, Pansy, darling, Luna needs to change into some proper clothes and take a bath." Mr. Parkinson took off his mask, revealing a dark haired, eyed, and mustached man. He was the average height of tall, and was about the average weight. He didn't have any features that stuck out to Luna; he wasn't the most handsome man.

Then again his daughter was not gifted with beautiful looks.

Luna moved forward and allowed one of the House Elves that loamed in the doorway of the parlor room to direct her towards the spiral staircase. The House Elf did not look up at Luna, and that was fine. Luna didn't want the House Elf to be even more frightened, even though Luna did look like Bellatrix Lestrange somewhat and she was coated in her aunt's blood.

In the parlor room a loud scream echoed, and Luna flinched as she heard Pansy screeching, "SHE DID WHAT? SHE KILLED BELLATRIX!"

The House Elf stiffened, as though letting Luna know that it didn't know how to feel about hearing that it was it was directing a murderer to the guest bathroom. Then again it was not its business to be telling anyone about how it felt, it hadn't let anyone know how it felt. Its masters did not care to learn how anyone felt, either human or House Elf.

Luna was led into a beautiful Italian Renaissance inspired bathroom with a beautiful black marble claw foot tub, along with pure gold faucets. The House Elf scurried over the tub and turned on the tap before checking to make sure that the water would be the appropriate temperature for Luna.

"I-Is it true?" The House Elf muttered, as it plugged the tub and allowed the water to begin to fill the tub. It peered down at the water and not up at Luna, knowing that it didn't want to look at Luna to see her reaction.

"Yes, I killed her. She wanted me to torture my best friend, so I killed her," Luna supplied, only for the House Elf to nod its head and begin to pull out a towel to sit next to the bathtub.

"I will retrieve some clothes for you to change into. Then you can take your bath. I will be outside the door if you need me," the House Elf told her, before it went and did what it said it would do. It came back with a very plain black long sleeve dress that stopped at mid-thy.

Luna took it, along with the undergarments that the House Elf provided (they had tags on them so Luna didn't have to even think that she was wearing some washed undergarments that Pansy owned).

Stopping the tub, Luna pulled off her dress and her shoes before she climbed into the bathtub. Blood clouded the tub soon enough, and Luna peered down at the once clear water that was now coated in her aunt's blood.

Luna sunk into the water and peered up at the ceiling, not surprised to see that the ceiling was as detailed with murals like the Sistine Chapel. Only the ceiling was covered with oil painted flowers that were charmed to sway like a warm spring wind was blowing by.

When Luna finally decided that her bath was done, she unplugged the tub and dried herself off before she put on the clothes that she was provided with. She put the heels on, despite the fact that she had just had some that looked just the same on. She knew that this family would not allow anyone to walk around the house without shoes on.

Luna barely opened the bathroom door before she felt a stinging pain of the palm of a hand that came in contact with Luna's face. She stumbled back, surprised with the sight of Pansy standing in front of her with anger radiating from her more than Luna had ever seen before.

"You bitch! You are lucky that you are under the protection of the Dark Lord right now or I would kill you here and now!" Pansy's hand was curled together, and Luna was certain that the girl would have crescent shaped marks in her palms from her fingernails making indents from the pressure.

"You are right; I am under the protection of the Dark Lord. That means that if I am ever faced with you slapping me again then I will inform him of this." Luna straightened up so that she could walk around Pansy, as she did so she cast a drying charm on her hair and in seconds her hair was dry.

Luna would have loved to be in the guest bedroom at that moment, away from them, but she barely had time to head down the corridor before she had been greeted with Mrs. Parkinson heading up the stairs with her Italian beauty in front of Luna. She looked like Camilla, the model from that magazine that Mandy had shared with Luna all those years ago, but even more stunning.

"Ah, welcome Miss Lovegood! I am always eager to provide a safe house for any of our Dark Lord's treasures. I am certain that soon enough everything will be taken care of and we will expect your wedding with Draco to happen after it," Mrs. Parkinson spoke, only for Pansy to screech behind her.

"Oh my, it seems as though I had forgotten to inform my daughter of your betrothal to Draco Malfoy, I apologize for the way that she has been treating you. Is that a hand mark on your cheek?" Mrs. Parkinson was a talented hostess; it had been common knowledge that the Parkinsons had really hoped that Draco would be betrothed to Pansy and not Astoria Greengrass.

Luna didn't say anything, though it didn't take long for Mrs. Parkinson to connect the dots. She straightened her back and touched Luna's shoulder, "As long as you are here there will never be a hair on your head removed or another hand mark on your face. It is a sad day that I have to remind my daughter that abuse is not tolerated."

Mrs. Parkinson headed straight to her daughter and Luna's eyes widened when the woman reached her hand out and grabbed Pansy by the top of her hair before dragging her towards what seemed to be Pansy's bedroom.

Mrs. Parkinson slammed the door shut on her daughter and cast a spell to make sure that she would be the only one that could unlock the door. She pocketed her wand and turned to Luna after she adjusted her hair and ostentatious dress.

"Do not worry, my dear, as long as you are here you will be safe."

Soon enough everyone went off to school again, though Luna was left at the manor with Mrs. Parkinson. She would often sit in the tea room and sip on her tea while peering out at the grand garden that was seen through the bay window. Hers was far more beautiful than the Malfoy gardens.

One early afternoon, Mrs. Parkinson paused and turned her head to Luna, "I mean not to be rude, or boldly out of permission to ask this, but do you even love your cousin in that manner?"

Luna looked down at her tea cup before she looked up at the woman. She decided to use this as an opportunity to have them twirling themselves around her finger for once, "yes, I've always felt attracted to him from my first year. I fell in love with him two years ago, but we had to keep it secret. The Dark Lord looked into our memories and was pleased with what he had seen, so he decided that we will be the first of our generation to be wed and bare children for him."

Mrs. Parkinson's face became tinted in green before she excused herself and sat the teacup down. She ran out of the room and Luna took another sip of her tea, smirking a little bit at the fact that Mrs. Parkinson actually thought that incest in this manner was wrong (though everyone in the pureblood society was related in some manner).

She arrived back before long and sat down before she let her quivering hand reach out to grab her teacup. She took a few sips to make sure that she was calm again before she looked out at the gardens.

"I don't believe that I have been able to tell you how much I admire your garden though, Mrs. Parkinson. It seems like a nice day outside; may we go and take a stroll?" Luna probed to the woman, which in return made the woman beam at the admiration that Luna had towards the garden.

"I saw them and I knew that they were better than the Malfoy gardens, by far," Luna added, and this time it was true. Mrs. Parkinson smirked and muttered, "Take that, Narcissa," under her breath before she stood up and ushered Luna to follow her to the French Doors that were connected to the tea room.

Luna followed after her wordlessly and wandered through the gardens with Mrs. Parkinson. She felt eyes on her and glanced up, finding that Pansy was standing in her bedroom and she had her arms folded against her chest.

She had been allowed out to eat with them, and to have her music lessons, but other than that Pansy demanded that she stay in her bedroom so that she would not have to face Luna anymore. Her parents accepted these terms, but only after Luna had told them that this was all right.

Mrs. Parkinson looked up to where Luna was staring, before she tsked, "do not worry about her, my dear. Come, I must show you the rarest flowers in the world. I have received word that you claim that you want to be a Magizoolgist. Maybe the Dark Lord will allow you to still pursue that career and collect animals for him."

Sickness enveloped Luna at the thought of her collecting animals for Voldemort so that he could kill them, or possibly have Nagini kill just because he and she had grown bored with killing humans and House Elves.

"It would be an honor to serve under the Dark Lord in any way possible, and I believe that I would love to see these flowers. You have permission from me to help me choose flowers for the garden that I will have made for me and Draco as a wedding present from your family," Luna decided, which made Mrs. Parkinson eagerly nodded her head, happy that she had gotten into the good cards with Luna.

Luna knew that she was just a pawn for Voldemort, but he didn't know that the Parkinsons were pawns for her too.


	91. sacrifice

**_HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME_**

**_92:_**_ sacrifice _

**Luna **found herself being dressed in a beautiful onyx hued cocktail dress on the day that Voldemort was going to storm Hogwarts in order to kill Harry Potter. She had her long and pretty blonde hair piled up in an intricate up-do and Alexandrite earrings hanging from her ears, they were long enough that they brushed against her shoulder blades. The front of her dress was low cut but mess was sewn underneath the open cut so that it was a transparent scene of the middle of her breasts. The sleeves were long and pooled at her wrists with Alexandrite jewels sewn into the sleeves so that they would dangle also.

A pair of stilettos that were the thinnest heels that Luna ever saw was on her feet, and black lace tied the shoes around her legs, making sure that her shoes were secure on her feet.

Luna wondered how she was going to escape so that she could go and protect Harry but knew that she couldn't. She would have to wait until they arrived at Hogwarts so that she could run off and find him. She would look like a sore thumb in this outfit but it was what was provided for her and she would have to deal with it.

Draco had his arm wrapped around Luna's; in his tuxedo pocket he had the engagement ring that Voldemort had picked out for Draco to give to Luna. Luna denied the thought of seeing it, much less having it on her matrimony finger.

She took a deep breath as they apparated away from the Parkinson Manor and at the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. The Death Eaters were ready to go and fight, while Luna let her eyes flicker over the sunlight that was around her—she flinched and brought her free hand up to cover her eyes.

Aunt Bellatrix's dagger had been given to Luna by Voldemort and it sat tied to her inner thy in secrecy. She was determined to destroy it at the first chance that she would have.

Luna watched as the Death Eaters stormed upon the castle and Luna knew that she couldn't move a muscle. She flinched as she heard the first screams that resonated from the castle; she knew that some of the students were already being ruthlessly killed—though she had ruthlessly killed her aunt, worse than they had been killed. It was so sudden that they wouldn't have a chance to respond to it.

Aunt Bellatrix on the other hand reacted to it almost immediately, she had reached her hand up to cover her throat but it was useless. The cut on her throat was thick enough for her blood to come out faster. She died choking on her blood, and Luna knew that Neville would be relieved to know that Bellatrix Lestrange was no more.

One of the Death Eaters came back and gave a status report, "Things are going accordingly, we have only lost about ten percent of our men. There has been no sighting of Harry Potter though, my lord."

Voldemort sighed and motioned for the Death Eater to not say anything else, "I should not be surprised. It will not take that long for him to arrive, I am certain of this. Be patient, when he arrives I will make my true presence known."

Luna felt her foot twitch as though she was almost contemplating running but from the amount of Death Eaters that were still here and Voldemort right off to the side she could have Draco killed and she knew that her cousin did not deserve to be killed just because Luna tried to run away.

Luna didn't know how long she stood there, until darkness began to fall. There were more Death Eaters that were being murdered because the Order had arrived. When Harry did arrive Nagini perked up and hissed something at Voldemort, which made him turn to look at the snake before clapping his hands, "very good! Very good, my precious Nagini says that Harry Potter is here. I will make my introduction then."

Luna watched as Voldemort amplified his wand and told Harry that he should come to the forest by Midnight or else he would go up to the school and find him, himself, along with having all of the students killed. If he came already then he wouldn't have to worry about anymore of his classmates murdered.

Luna knew that it was a rouse; she knew that Voldemort would still murder the students that were in the school because they thought that they could stand a chance against Voldemort and his followers.

Still though she turned to Draco and tightened her arm around his before she went to lean her head against his shoulder blade. She leant against him and he wrapped his arm around her, as they kept their bodies stiff and unresponsive to the sounds of the killings that were happening up at Hogwarts.

At exactly midnight Harry came into the forest and saw everyone gathered. His eyes paused as he looked at Luna and Draco. His eyes were full of relief at seeing them alive and he still had love in his eyes when he looked at Luna. She could tell from his eyes that he was telling her that he was….he loved her…but he was sorry for what he was about to do?

Luna screamed bloody murder when Voldemort shot Harry with the Killing Curse, she fell onto the ground and tried to crawl in the direction of where Harry was but was stopped by Voldemort pointing his wand down at her, right in front of her face, "come now, Luna, get off the ground. Please compose yourself."

Luna stood up and made her way to Draco again, letting him wrap his arm around her. He cast a silent cleaning charm so that her face would again be covered with the beautiful makeup that once adored it.

Luna fought the urge to cry even more when she looked down at the corpse of the man of her dreams, of the love of her life, not moving and unresponsive.

Soon enough Hagrid came and gathered Harry in his arms, shooting angered glares at them and pausing when he saw Luna standing there with no life in her eyes anymore. She was living but she might as well have been dead. It was apparent that she had been kidnapped and held by Voldemort and his followers, so this didn't make Hagrid hate the girl at first glance.

They trekked up to the school and arrived in the crumbling courtyard. Professor McGonagall, and the other professors, stood at the front doors of the school and many of the remaining students were crowding them. Neville was there, along with Cho Chang, and Lavender Brown.

Dora stood next to Remus and Sirius with her hand covering the top part of her left arm, her arm had been blown off so that only the topper part of her arm was left. Bandages were wrapped around her remaining arm and she peered at Luna and Draco, along with those around her with sadness.

Sirius stood close to Remus, who had taken his hand in his without realizing it, while the both of them were crying in mourning at the sight of Harry dead in Hagrid's arms as the half giant made his way into the courtyard.

Voldemort spoke, "Harry Potter is dead! I have done as I promised, I assure you of this. With him gone I am here to rule, and I will forgive those who will come over and join me. You will be pardoned for all previous crimes if you join me. If not then you can die, so those are your two choices. Live or die, the choice is yours."

Luna turned to look at Draco, and he nodded his head, before the cousins began to walk away from dark crowd and towards the light side. Most of the students blinked in surprise of Draco defying Voldemort, along with the outfit that they had put Luna Lovegood in. It surprised them even more when Narcissa Malfoy stood straighter than she ever had before and crossed the courtyard to go onto the light side.

Aunt Narcissa cleared her throat before she spoke, "I would like to say something, something that is undeniable unladylike, and something that I never thought I would say. Yet with Luna now in my life, teaching me true love from a niece that I am blessed to have been given, I have this to say: Fuck You!"

Luna felt her mouth fall open, along with others around her, at the fact that Narcissa Malfoy had just said what she had said to Voldemort. Voldemort narrowed his eyes, making them into even more slits, at the fact that he had been talked to in that manner. He opened his mouth this time, "We have been given the first person that will be executed for her defiance against me, Narcissa Malfoy. Tell me Narcissa, are you proud of the fact that you have gone against your own people?"

Aunt Narcissa smirked at him, "I am proud, I must admit. I am proud of the fact that I learned the truth and I can die happily with this knowledge."

"Very well," Voldemort clipped before he brought his wand up and cast out the Killing Curse. Luna hadn't expected though for Draco to lunge in front of his mother in order to make sure that she wouldn't be the one who would be hit by the Killing Curse.

Luna screamed in pure agony at the sight of her cousin falling onto the ground, dead, for protecting his mother. Aunt Narcissa fell onto the ground and wrapped her arms around her son, complete anguish appearing on her face at the fact that her son had given up his life for his mother to live.

This scene made the light side realize what had happened, and as everyone began to charge forward to cast spells at the others Luna noted in the corner of her eye someone moving. She could barely see through the blurriness in her eyes, but when she noted that it was Harry getting up from the ground she cried out his name, "Harry!"

Harry stood up and turned his head, finding that his girlfriend was crumbled next to her aunt, who was loaming over a dead….Draco?

He rushed forward to fall in front of Luna and wrapped his arms around her before he kissed her forehead. "Oh, my love, you are alive. I thought—"

Luna shook her head, "no, Harry. Of course we knew that I would survive, but Draco! Oh he killed him! He took the Killing Curse for Aunt Narcissa!"

Harry let his eyes wander away from his future aunt-in-law and to the corpse of his would have been cousin-in-law. Draco had his eyes closed, and he had an actual smile on his face as though he knew that he had died protecting his mother.

Narcissa rocked Draco back and forth, and Luna turned to look at Harry, "Come, Harry, we need to finish this. Tell me, how many Horocruxes have you found and how many have been destroyed?"

Harry had told her all about the Horocruxes and which ones had been destroyed, but when he explained about Rowena's crown, Luna told him to go up to Ravenclaw Tower with Cho Chang (she paused where she had just shot a Death Eater unconscious, before she motioned for Harry to follow), before Luna rushed towards Aunt Narcissa once again in order to make sure that she would live.

A Death Eater loamed over Aunt Narcissa, about to cast the Killing Curse, only for Luna to hitch up her dress and yank out Aunt Bellatrix's dagger from its little slot. She threw the dagger forward and it hit the Death Eater in the throat, making him fall back in a thud.

Reaching the Death Eater she pulled the dagger out of his throat and yanked out her wand so that she could surround her aunt and the corpse of her cousin. She would make sure that Aunt Narcissa would live, even if Aunt Narcissa was drowned in deep grief. She was suicidal at the moment, since she hadn't even bat an eyelash at the Death Eater that was loaming over her.

"Draco didn't die for you to let yourself get killed, Aunt Narcissa. He would want you to live, for the both of you. Please, don't leave me," Luna requested, after she informed her aunt of the truth, only for Aunt Narcissa to not respond—still not knowing what she should do.

Luna trusted Cho Chang to show Harry where the model of the famous Ravenclaw crown was, and she trusted Ron and Hermione to find the last remaining Horocruxes and their uses to be destroyed. She trusted them all to find what they were looking for, and it didn't surprise her when Cho Chang and Harry came stumbling out of the front doors of the school with scratches and dust debris on them.

Everything stopped when the Death Eaters saw that Harry was stalking in the direction of Voldemort. In the background Neville slashed Nagini's head off with the sword of Gryffindor, which in return made the blade break with the impact. He was coated in the snake guts from the decapitation but it only reaffirmed that the only thing that was left to do was to kill Voldemort once and for all.

Luna sat down on the ground and grabbed Aunt Narcissa's hand in hers, which in return made her aunt look in the direction of where Harry and Voldemort were. They held their breaths as the duel began between the two powerful wizards, a shot of green magic shooting from Voldemort's wand and a shot of red magic shooting from Harry's wand—the both of them clashing in the middle.

The second that Harry ended up defeating Voldemort was treasured and worshipped by every good witch and wizard that was there to watch the defeat of Voldemort. Luna felt Aunt Narcissa sway next to her before falling onto her side; Luna hadn't even noticed that Aunt Narcissa had stabbed herself in the side by grabbing her dead sister's dagger that was a few feet away, or that she had committed suicide to be with Draco.

There was no heart stopping kiss that was shared between Harry and Luna. Luna had just lost her aunt and cousin. Thankfully Cousin Dora was alive, though Uncle Ted was dead. Remus and Sirius were alive (Remus lunged to Sirius and planted a large kiss on him, which in return made Sirius spin around in a circle with Remus in his arms).

She merely felt tiredness arrive and the last thing that she saw was Harry being hugged by Hermione and Ron, before she fell to the side and passed out—she knew that they had won and that was what mattered.

Voldemort was defeated.

Luna knew when she would wake up again that the world would be different, there would be many funerals that they would go to and there would be many memorials that would take place.

For now though everyone knew they had one piece of them that had blossomed, all from the fact that Voldemort was dead.


	92. epilogue

HARRY POTTER DOESN'T BELONG TO ME

EPILOGUE

19 years later

**Luna Potter **stood peacefully at the platform nine and three quarters, the beautiful red train "Hogwarts Express" was on the train tracks. The train was still prepared for the students to go to Hogwarts.

She turned to look at her husband, Harry Potter, as he stood proudly next to his wife. He had his hair down to his shoulder blades and nice circular glasses that were more stylish than his old ones (though he kept his father's glasses in a special case that would have to be charmed open by Harry, himself), and his vivid green eyes were brilliant as always.

In front of them stood their five children, ages from fifteen all the way down to seven, and they were all conversing with each other. The eldest was Narcissa Aquila, she had obviously been named after her great aunt and she looked eerily like her aunt—though Narcissa Aquila never once was seen without a smile on her, she was quite the jokester. She was currently wearing her Ravenclaw robes, her beautiful vivid green eyes being what was different between her and her great aunt.

Then there was their thirteen year old son, Caelum James, who happened to end up in Slytherin. He took after his second cousin, but looked more like his dad. He didn't need glasses, but he had his mother's eyes—those cloudy bluish gray eyes. He even said that he could see the same creatures that his mother had seen. He had his robes on but they weren't buttoned all the way.

Their second eldest daughter, Lily Norma, was eleven and she listened eagerly to what her two eldest siblings were saying. Narcissa was telling her that she should value her education while Caelum was telling her that Narcissa was a hypocrite since he had seen her pranking people more than actually studying.

Lily Norma was the perfect mixture of her parents, she had her mother's hair but it was thicker like her father's. She had hazel eyes and her nose was just like her father's, while her lips were like her mother's. She was wearing a sweater that her mother had knitted for her; it was another mood based sweater.

Their last two children were twins, one a girl and the other boy. The girl was Pandora Marie, she was a pretty little girl that looked more like her mother than her father but still had his features. The son was named Draconian Isaac, and he was currently napping up a storm with his little blond tuffs flickering from the wind—though Pandora's dark brown curls weren't moving at all.

They were seven and they didn't seem as though they really had an interest in Hogwarts, they were more interested in Ilvermorny, since that was where Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ambrose lived with their three children—Ofelia, Mandy, and Cullen. Ofelia was the same age as Narcissa, though Mandy was fourteen, and Cullen was actually ten.

Hermione was the Minister of Magic in America, since she had said that she had her fair share of England and though she loved her mother country she felt connected to America since she had decided to stay there for a year after Hogwarts.

Ambrose was a teacher at Ilvermorny, and was the head of one of the houses. He was a favorite teacher, so the five member family was happy in America.

Ron found himself married to Cho Chang of all people, he had dated Lavender Brown for the longest time but they decided that they just didn't have any chemistry in the end. She also found that she couldn't come anywhere near accepting herself fully, since she had been attacked by Greyback—the lycanthrope that had made Remus a lycanthrope when he was a little boy.

They had twins, Yu Yan and Feng Mian, which were very beautiful. They were actually five; it had taken a while for them to be able to have children. Though Cho Chang had taken Ron's last name, Ron had surprised everyone when he said that Cho could name their children whatever she desired to name them.

They were standing next to Luna and Harry, and Harry was telling Cho about different medical remedies that he had learnt when he went to China with Luna during one of Luna's expeditions for another one of her beloved creatures. Since Harry was the head of the Healing Association in the U.K. he was able to go to different countries to learn the latest medical techniques and bring light to forgotten remedies.

Yu Yan was eagerly talking to 'Uncle Harry' in rapid Chinese; she was telling him all different things that she had seen when she had last gone to China. Harry spoke Chinese the whole time that he had been talking to Cho, since he knew that it meant a lot for her to have him speaking her native tongue when he was around her children.

Feng Mian just shrugged as he looked through a Quidditch book that his father had bought him (Feng would obviously be in Ravenclaw—his intelligence could rival Professor Flitwick's when Feng would graduate Hogwarts), he had claimed that he was going to be a professional Quidditch player like his mum was. Only he was going to be one for China, since he wanted to be the first Hogwarts graduate who was on a famous Chinese Quidditch Team.

"Marigold, I told you that you can't take your plants on the train!" Neville's voice resonated throughout the air and everyone turned their head, seeing that Neville Longbottom was telling his only daughter that she couldn't take her plants on the train even if she was the daughter of the Herbology (and Head of the Gryffindor House!) professor.

She frowned as she held her plotted plant in her arms, the Hufflepuff knowing that Grandma Sprout would not be any help either as she was with them. She had taken them under her wings and had become a grandmother to them. The short and squat woman shook her head amusedly as she reached her arms out so that the Hufflepuff could give the plant back to the former Head of the Hufflepuff House.

Despite her going to Hogwarts for four years, the girl always tried each year to be able to take her precious plants to school with her. She knew that Grandma Spout would spend countless hours with Marigold's mum, but she still would have liked to garden and take care of her own plants, thank you so very much!

Her brother, Rowan, rolled his eyes as he leant against a pillar and folded his arms against his chest. He had dyed his hair a bright green, which had been a rebellion against his parents and being the son of a professor at the school but everyone took it with stride and loved the hair. It was his luck that he was extremely handsome and looked good with about any hair color.

The seventh year was a Gryffindor, and he let his eyes flicker over to the other teenagers that were around him. He stiffened up and blushed when he saw Narcissa Aquila talking to her siblings. When she let her eyes wander to him, he coughed in his hand and looked away.

The youngest Longbottom, and cutest little toddler, happened to be Cedar. He was four years old and he had the brightest red hair that was beautiful. He bubbled and squirmed happily when he saw his cousins, he still couldn't pronounce their names correctly, but he saw his pretty Aunt Cho and his Uncle Ron.

As though she could tell this, Ginny turned and glared at her daughter and son, "don't cause anymore trouble with your father! This is the last time that I hear about you trying to send a plant to suffocate your brother, little lady!"

Marigold fluttered her eyelashes, as though she was going to ask her mother if she ever would do that, only for Ginny to arch her eyebrow. The girl sighed and pouted, before Ginny made her way to the group of friends.

"I am so ready for her to go to school," Ginny groaned as she held Cedar in her arms, he giggled happily at the motherly attention he was receiving from her. She kissed his forehead and noted that the other adults were nodding their heads, except for Luna. She brushed her hand against her stomach.

"Ugh, please tell me that you aren't having another _baby_!" Ginny brought her hand up and let her head hit her palm while in the background Neville was making sure all the students were getting on the train.

Luna giggled as she reached her hand out and took Harry's, only for him to look down and notice that she was holding her other hand on her stomach, "yeah, she just discovered a new creature that loves publicity, but needed a person to see them…so one thing led to another and before we knew it we're on number six."

Cho didn't have a look of jealously on her face, in fact she almost scrunched her face up, "yeah, we ended up with one of each so Ron and I are content. Though Molly keeps insisting that we have more."

It was true, every time that Luna and Harry were invited to The Burrow to visit Molly and Arthur Weasley with Cho and Ron they'd be greeted with Molly wanting to actually have them agree with having more children.

Being a famous Quidditch player for the Tutshill Tornadoes meant that Cho didn't have much time to even spend time with her family during the on season but when she was on off season she just wanted to relax and enjoy her four member family. There were other children that Molly had that she could look to when it came to adding more little Weasleys into the world.

"What's this I hear? My favorite cousin is pregnant again?"

Luna beamed happily as she moved away from her husband and rushed towards where Sirius was before she threw her arms around him. He squeezed her, carefully despite the fact that she was early on in the pregnancy, and pulled away to look at Luna more carefully.

Sirius had his hair scraped up in a man bun with a rough beard (he denied that he looked anything like the hipsters that his family claimed he had gathered the inspiration from), wore an old eighties band t-shirt, dark washed jeans, and a pair of his trusty biker shoes from his younger years.

Remus rolled his eyes fondly at his husband, before he let his eyes drift towards those he considered his family too, "hi, everyone." He smiled at them, this time it was carefree and there was no sadness or weariness in his voice.

They had been married for seven years, and despite the fact that Remus and Sirius could have adopted children neither of them cared to. They had so many families, related or not, that gave them their children to baby sit that it felt like they had children of their own in a sense.

Luna eagerly told Sirius about the creature that she had just discovered, while Cho jokingly claimed that there was birth control, but Harry and Luna agreed that they were done with children after this one. As much as they loved their large family, they thought that they would have been done with having anymore children after Pandora and Draconian.

Eventually Neville came over to them with tired but ecstatic eyes, "Hi, Sirius, Remus, it's nice to see you. I came over here though to tell you that the kids need to get on the train. It's time for me to be the sole target of their attention…which to some is a great idea…but to others…"

Neville let his eyes wander over to Narcissa Aquila, who was smirking at Rowan. He knew that he was going to have to deal with Rowan telling him that women were evil, again, because Narcissa knew he liked her but she was making him work for it. He really didn't want to have this conversation with his son, but Narcissa Aquila would be laughing to Luna about how boys were.

Thankfully Luna noted that Neville was looking over at Narcissa Aquila and she nodded her head, "I understand, and I will have a talk with her. Yes, it is quite fun to tease a man, but I believe she's had enough fun for now."

Neville let out a breath of relief, "thanks, Lune. That means a lot to me. I love your kids; you know I do, but…."

"You don't have to say anything, mate. We understand. We can help you gather the kids if you need help," Harry responded, only for Neville to shake his head, "I've got it. That's something that I can definitely do."

The couples stood back and watched as Neville went to the Potters first, asking them to get on the train. The ones old enough to get on the train sighed but listened to him, waving goodbye to their parents, before they went onto the train. The youngest ones came back to their parents (but only after they squeezed Neville almost to death, knowing he was heading with their siblings).

Lily Norma came to her parents and leant against her dad, she had always been a daddy's girl, and she watched her Uncle Neville turn to ask Ginny where their children were only to remember that they were smart enough to get on the train before. They had currently pushed their window down and were waving at their mum, along with their aunts and uncles.

Cedar noticed his siblings hanging out of the train window and made grabby hands, demanding that they pay attention to him. Ginny sighed and excused herself before she made her way to where her children were hanging out of the train window. She lifted Cedar high enough that Marigold and Rowan were talking to him, which calmed the toddler immensely.

Yu Yuen and Feng Mian were peering up at their cousins, though Yu Yuen was waving goodbye to them with warmth it seemed as though Feng Mian was not that interested in having sappy departures.

"Feng, wave goodbye to your cousins, like a proper cousin," Ron chided at him, only for Feng to arch his eyebrow up. The fact that he was five but was acting like he was a teenager caused many to have constant headaches when they would tell him to act proper. The only one that stopped that was Cho, who turned her attention from Luna to looking at Feng.

"Do we have a problem here, Feng?" Cho folded her arms against her chest, as she tapped her beautiful navy blue manicured fingers against her arms. She was dressed to the nines in Ravenclaw colors.

There was even a Ravenclaw sweater that Molly had made for Cho so that she could wear the House sweater whenever she would have interviews for her team or whenever she wanted to go up to Hogwarts so that she could check on any of the kids.

"No mā ma," Feng responded, before he turned to look up at his daddy, "Sorry, bà ba. I shouldn't have talked to you like that."

Ron nodded his head, "thank you for the apology, Feng. Please go up there and say goodbye to your cousins though. They'll be gone for a while."

Feng went forward, although Yu was already at the train and she was eagerly talking to her cousins. She was rapidly speaking in Chinese, the fourth and seventh years blinked in shock at the fast rate that she was going. They did know Chinese but even they knew that Aunt Cho could be the only one who would know automatically what the little spunky girl was saying.

Luna leant her head against her husband's arm and wrapped her arm around his arm, while her cousin and Remus were talking lively to Pandora and Draconian. Both Pandora and Draconian loved their old cousin very much, along with their old cousin's husband. Remus had cool scratches on his face, just like Uncle Bill, but both children came up with different array of adventures where Remus could have gotten them.

They had made Remus and Sirius sit down in the living room of their house and watch **_Indiana Jones_** on the television so that they could talk about how Uncle Sirius would be rescued by Uncle Remus all the time if they were in the movies.

Harry blamed it on his wife, having a wife that was adventurous like the famous archeologist meant that she would eagerly sit down and watch the movies with her children.

As Neville kissed his wife goodbye, Luna felt content wash through her. The doors to the train shut and it went off, leaving the platform and heading in the direction of where Hogwarts was.

With her family and friends around her, Luna knew that she loved her life, even if it was quite peculiar to some.


End file.
